Let's Race
by BlatantBookworm
Summary: After the events in Angel, The Fang Gang need a place to hang, so they take a visit to good old Bayville. How were they supposed to know that the resident speedster would fall in love with Star? Serious spoilers for Angel. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Maximum Ride – X-men Evolution Crossover

_**Let's Race**_

**Summary**: After the events in Angel, The Fang Gang need a place to hang, so they take a visit to good old Bayville. How were they supposed to know that the resident speedster would fall in love with Star?

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Maximum Ride or X-Men Evolution.

**Warnings: **Uh… well, XME is finished (sobs) but Maximum Ride still is going. So some things in this might not relate to the next book. To anyone reading this in the year 2015 or whenever, I wrote this in 2011. Angel has been published but the rest of the books haven't.

**Reviews: **Has anyone ever said 'don't review'? Seriously. I love feedback, and would love some more. Please review!

* * *

><p>Chapter One<p>

"Okay Fang, where are we going to now?" Maya asked as they soared above the sky. Below them Star ran leisurely along the empty road, keeping pace with the car Ratchet was driving Kate and Hoyden in.

"I'm not sure." He said. The Doomsday group had really taken it out of him. "Somewhere quiet, but has lots of people. We want to blend in."

Maya smirked. "Fat chance of _that _happening."

Star looked up and waved, as the car cruised into a parking spot. The two bird kids – or, well, teenagers – swooped down and landed nearby.

"Ratchet says that he can see something." Kate shrugged as she got out. "And I'm going to stretch. It's okay for you three, but my legs are cramping."

Star grinned. "Ha-ha." She said, looking perfect. You'd never guess that she had been running at around 90km/phr for the better part of eight hours. "Poor little strong girl has to sit in the car."

"I was waiting for it to start raining." Ratchet groaned. "Please tell me that soon it will start raining and Star will stop… you know. Being Star."

Maya grinned. "Definitely. If it stars raining I am getting in the car with you. So what can you see?"

Ratchet pointed. "There's a big town over there. I'd say we could hang out there for a while." Fang glanced over but couldn't see anything. Still, in the two weeks since they had left Paris and the Flock behind, he'd learned to never doubt when Ratchet said he saw something that seemed vaguely reasonable.

He'd also learnt not to believe him when he was gasping and looking shocked about fairies.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Fang nodded. "How far?"

"Well, if we keep going at this speed, about an hour and a half."

Fang glanced at the sky. They had two hours of light left, easy. "Okay. But let's take a little break here. I don't know about Maya, but I'm _exhausted_."

* * *

><p>Lance was smiling slightly as he stepped into the house. Pietro looked up at the older boy. "So your date went well?" He asked almost scathingly. "You know, the one with the x-geek?"<p>

"Don't call her that." Lance sighed, and then reached for a bottle or water from out of the fridge. "But yeah, it did." A flicker of a smile crossed his face as he sat down on the chair.

"Sure it did." Fred shrugged. "Hey, it's your life. You wanna stay with an x-geek, knock yourself out."

"Thanks. I think."

Pietro tutted as the other Brotherhood members watched the T.V. "Still don't get why you chose an _x-geek _of all the other beautiful babes in Bayville."

"Two reasons. One, every human in the place hates our guts. Though to be fair so do most of the x-geeks. And two, I didn't _choose _one day to fall in love with Kitty. It just kinda happened. No-one chooses who they fall in love with."

"Or who falls in love with them." Wanda said as Toad tried to crawl up to her. "Believe me, if I could choose one boy in Bayville to fall hopelessly in love with me, I wouldn't pick Toad."

"Yeah. But you could choose not to fall in love at all." Pietro shrugged, flipping the channel over on the television.

Toad smirked. "It's not that easy, yo. Before I first met sweetums here, I was planning on being a lone wolf forever. But then my crimson cutie stole my heart."

"Toad, what was that we talked about when it came to pet names?"

"Okay sweetums – uh, Wanda."

Pietro smirked as he changed the channel again. "Too bad. Cause I really doubt that the girl of my dreams is gonna turn up any time soon."

* * *

><p>"So, Fang," Star said as she stopped running. Maya and Fang landed and they parked the car as they walked into the small citybig town called Bayville.

"What next?"

Fang thought for a moment. They needed a place to sleep. They didn't have much money, and he didn't want to use it on a hotel unless absolutely necessary. Maybe a library… they normally were pretty comfortable to sleep in overnight.

"We'll find a library or something that is really secure to sleep in." Fang decided. "You know, like a library is built with places to curl up and read a book. We'll break in easy, and sleep the night away. We can find something a bit more permanent in the morning."

"Yeah." Ratchet nodded. "If we need to, we'll break Hoyden's arms until he has to go to the emergency room, and then absolutely insist on staying the night with him."

"Hey!"

By now the sun was beginning to set. It was around six thirty at night, and the library was, of course, closed. "Anyone in there, Ratch?" Star grinned.

"I hate it when you call me that." Ratchet muttered.

"That's why I do it."

"Well, there's no-one in there." Ratchet said to Fang, who nodded. "Okay, Star? Could you get the door open?"

A minute later they were all tucking into a place to stay the night. Star and Kate were sleeping next to each other for warmth, and something about comfort, Maya curled up on the carpet in an aisle with vague privacy, Hoyden called the children's mat as it was the most comfortable, and both Ratchet and Fang found beanbags.

"Goodnight." Star said softly.

"Night." Kate replied to her best friend, looking up at the ceiling.

"Goodnight." Maya's voice (so like Max's, but so different…) came from somewhere to Fang's left.

"Sleep tight." Hoyden added.

"Yeah. Night." Fang said.

"Uh-huh. Ditto, nightie-night and all that." Ratchet finished.

Everyone was silent. Star lay down, but wasn't sleepy. She hadn't actually done anything. Yeah, she'd been running all day, but she didn't even know if her amazing stamina had a limit. She hadn't hit it if she did.

Star hadn't told anyone in their new team (Kate had known, of course, but didn't mention it), but about two weeks before she had run away, she had broken up with her boyfriend.

He just wasn't right for her. At first he'd thought it was cool that she had super-speed, but eventually he turned bitter that he couldn't keep up with her when they ran. He mentioned the word 'freak' once or twice. He had kept the secret (cause Star would kick his butt without powers) but was resentful. Eventually Star had to break up with him.

But who cared? She had been upset, but after Paris – she'd seen death. The little seven year old girl had vanished. If nothing else, she'd seen how Fang looked at Max. Even when they had split up, she could see the two of them had something that ran far deeper then what she and James had.

No, she was _lucky_. She wasn't going to be dating again for a while, anyway. Not until after they had definitely saved the world.

Across the town, another super-speedy teenager was thinking about love. And how pathetic it was.

* * *

><p>"What are you kids doing here?" Someone demanded.<p>

Maya opened her eyes. Star and Kate sat up, Hoyden rubbed his eyes, Fang tried to sit up in the beanbag but failed and Ratchet's eyes flashed open but he didn't move.

"Alright, answer up! What are you doing here?" The police officer growled. He had a moustache under his nose and a scowl under his officer cap.

"I dunno." Maya stood up, shakily. She rubbed her head. "Man, I have a _killer _hang-over. I have gotta stop drinking."

Fang was the first to catch on. "Yeah, I know. My head is killing me so bad." He rubbed his temples.

"I can't remember anything after our fourth shot." Ratchet joined in. "What the… are we in a library? What the frick are we doing in a library?"

"You're drunk." The officer said, raising an eyebrow. Behind him a woman stood, her hair giving the impression she was the librarian.

"Not anymore. These stupid hang-overs sober ya." Star stood up and did a good impression of being wobbly. "How did we get here?"

"I don't know." Hoyden shook his head. "I vaguely remember something about dancing at that guy's place, gatecrashing a party, and was there something about hamsters?"

"Those were hamburgers." Maya shook her head.

The officer looked over at Hoyden and blinked. "Wait. Just how old are you? You can't be old enough to drink."

"I'm nineteen." Hoyden said. "I just look really young."

The officer kept scowling. "Okay, fine. I'm sixteen, happy?" Of course he wasn't sixteen, but then again if they knew how old he was, he might get put into foster care, Maya mused.

How old was he, anyway?

"And the rest of you? How many are legally old enough to drink?"

Maya ran her eyes over the Fang Gang. The two bird teens were tall and skinny – they could pass for their twenties, easy. Ratchet could also go in for nineteen or older. Kate and Star could maybe both pass for eighteen if they had i.d's, which, _unfortunately_, they didn't.

"All of us." She lied. "Except John over there."

'John' shrugged sheepishly.

"I want to see some identification." The police officer growled.

"Sure thing, officer." Ratchet said, patting down his pockets. "What the… my wallet's gone! And so's all my cash, and my license. Damn."

"Same here." Star grimaced.

"Man, what did we _do _last night?" Kate groaned.

"I'm not sure. But did you really have to tell that waiter you loved him?" Star said, looking directly at Ratchet. "Come on Eric, that wasn't necessary."

"Hey," Hoyden smirked, "he had to say _something _after a kiss like that."

Ratchet scowled. "I don't remember that."

"You don't remember anything from last night." Kate reminded him.

"That's it." The officer growled. "I'm taking you all in until your parents come pick you up." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. How they fit in there, Maya had no idea.

"Yes officer." Ratchet groaned. "Just as long as it's quiet. Huge hangover, remember?"

The Fang Gang walked with the officer to the police car. They all squished up in the back as the librarian started fussing around, trying to fix her workplace up.

"So, how long exactly are we going to be locked up?" Kate asked curiously.

The officer growled. "Until your parents come." He parked the car and got out. "Now come in."

"We gonna follow the rules or ours?" Star whispered to Fang. "I could have him handcuffed to the lamp-post over there before Ratchet finishes hotwiring the car. Then we'd be outta here."

Fang thought for a moment. "No. We don't want to cause any more attention then we have to."

"So they won't notice that Kate bends open the bars when we leave?" Ratchet asked as they stepped reluctantly into a cell.

"She'll bend them back."

* * *

><p>Ratchet sat in the cell and looked gloomily up at the ceiling. They'd only been there for ten minutes and already it was killing him.<p>

Anyone who had been inhumanely captured, held in dog-crates and injected with needles was sure to have bad memories of being held in a small confined place. Any moment now someone was going to walk in with a needle and they'd all lose it.

"How long do we have to stay here?" Ratchet asked.

"Just give it another ten minutes, tops." Fang glanced at the clock. "Everyone think they can hold out that long?" He asked the group.

"I guess." Kate said.

Maya bit her lip. She was pacing the cell. "I think so." She said slowly. "But if anyone comes in wearing a lab coat, I will _lose_ it.

"Sure." Hoyden shrugged. "They don't come near me with a knife and I think I'll keep it together pretty okay."

Star was fidgeting. "Ten minutes? I can wait ten minutes. But once I'm out, I'm going to take a long, fast run. Okay?"

"Sure." Fang shrugged as the clock kept ticking.

* * *

><p>Pietro opened the early morning door. It was only around 9 am, but it felt like early morning. Lance, Fred and Toad were sleeping in. The only one awake was Wanda, and as one might expect, she wasn't a morning person.<p>

Pietro decided it would be safer to let her have some time to wake up.

So… where too? First he went to a café, and ate some food. Magneto had given his two kids a small allowance, and so Pietro didn't even have to steal it.

He slowly sipped his drink, thinking about Lance's obsession with Kitty. The strange thing was, half the time Lance was miserable but the other half he was more happy then Pietro had ever seen him.

And of course, Toad risked his life to flirt with Wanda. What was so amazing about love, anyway? Pietro had never fallen in love. Flirtation, attraction, even a small infatuation was all something he'd felt, but never love. Was he missing something?

Nah. Love just made everything more complicated. _Hello_, Lance was constantly having moral dilemmas about dating an X-Geek. And Toad got beaten up more by _his _love-interest then all the jocks at Bayville High put together.

Anyway, no-one would be able to keep up with him. Lance was right about one thing: all the humans in this town hated the mutants – well, most of them anyway – which left the X-men and the Morlocks. The X-Men got disqualified instantly, and the Morlocks lived in the sewer. _Ew_.

Any girl _Pietro _fell in love with, Pietro mused to himself as he bit into a donut, would have to be a type of mutant, but definitely not one from around here.

Pietro suddenly found himself imagining what his dream girl would be like. What was with him now? Pietro shrugged it off. Who cared?

Well, she'd couldn't be human, that was for sure. And she also had to not mind the fact that her boyfriend was better then her at everything. Actually, she should enjoy that.

Pretty, definitely. No, gorgeous. Drop dead gorgeous. Fast, sure, but not as fast as him. Not clingy but absolutely adored him. No, she'd worship the very dirt he walked on.

He glanced around the café just in case that girl was anywhere inside it. Then he almost laughed. The place was crowded and yet no-one had even asked if they could sit with him although there was plenty of room in his booth. Of course, they were all scared of the mutant…

"You mind if I sit with you?" A girl asked, flipping her blonde hair back. She was about his age – fifteen – and had a slightly arrogant attitude. "Everywhere else is full."

Pietro smirked. "Sure, if you don't mind sitting next to a _mutant_." He emphasised the word, sure that she'd leave instantly.

"You're a mutant?" The girl slid down across the table from him. "And actually, why would I care?"

Pietro blinked. She wasn't grossed out or anything. Huh.

"I'm Pietro." Pietro said.

"Star."

* * *

><p><strong>So, you like? Let me know, okay?<strong>

**Just hit that little review button. Go on, hit it!**


	2. Chapter 2

Maximum Ride – X-men Evolution Crossover

**Let's Race**

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing but the idea. Kay? Don't sue me.

* * *

><p>Chapter Two.<p>

As soon as she got out of the jail cell Star bolted. They'd only been there for twenty minutes but when you live life really, _really_ fast, twenty minutes sitting in a cell while claustrophobic is a very long time.

Ratchet managed to convince the officers that their parents were there. That was why they'd been let out of the cells – after all, how else could they have gotten out? Not like any of them could bend the bars.

She spent about two minutes running fast until she felt she'd shaken off the cobwebs.

Eventually she found a café, and with her stomach starting to rumble, she walked in.

"Man, this place is packed to the brim." Star grimaced as she looked around. There was only one booth with an empty seat – unfortunately it was taken. There was a boy drinking something and munching on a pastry.

Well, she might as well say hi. Nowhere else to sit.

"You mind if I sit with you?" Star asked. The boy looked startled, his silver hair gleaming in the light. "Everywhere else is full." _Wait, did that need saying? Of course everywhere's full_.

"Sure." The boy smirked slightly. "If you don't mind sitting next to a mutant."

Wait, what? Did he mean mutant like her, or mutant like the school freak? "You're a mutant?" Star asked, sitting down. Hey, he said she could. "And actually, why would I care?"

The boy blinked, and a flicker of confusion crossed his face. Before Star could wonder what that meant he was smiling slightly. "I'm Pietro."

"Star." Star looked at Pietro curiously.

"So, why _don't _you care that I'm a mutant?"

"Classify _mutant_."

A waitress came up to her. "What would you like?"

Well, Star didn't have any money, but she was hungry. A dine and dash would have to work for now. "What have you got?"

The waitress handed her the menu. Star read through it quickly. "I'll take two burgers, three crossoints, one of these bacon and egg meals and another crossoint. To start."

"To start?" The waitress blinked.

"Yep." Hey, that was just a snack.

The waitress nodded and left. "So, what do you mean by _mutant_?" Star asked Pietro. He was looking at her oddly.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

Star smirked. "What gave it away?"

"Well, I'm sure I'd remember seeing _you _around here."

"Cut out the flattery. I survived years of an all girls catholic school. I could kill you five times before you hit the floor." She wasn't kidding, but it wasn't really the catholic school that would let her kick his butt.

Well, it was just part of it.

Pietro grinned, showing teeth. _He's actually pretty cute._

"So, what's a mutant?"

"A mutant is the next stage of evolution. We have special powers. Powers that kick butt."

Star leaned forward, interested. "These powers don't happen to have anything to do with mad scientists injecting you with animal DNA while holding you inhumanely in a dog crate, do they?"

Pietro looked at her strangely. "Uh, no?"

"Okay." Evolutionalised mutants, huh? Seems much more friendly then animal/human hybrids. "So what are your powers?"

Pietro smirked as the waitress came back. "Here." She handed Star her food. Star bit into a crossiont, eating it as slowly as she could. "That went away fast." Pietro said casually.

"What's your power?" Star repeated.

Pietro glanced around and pointed out the window. "See that store there? Watch the door."

Star frowned but glanced. Wind rushed from the other side of the table, a blur shot out of the restaurant, and Star could see Pietro racing. The fact she could see him was a testament to her own powers. Less than half a second later Pietro was there, waving at her. Then he was back.

"Super-speed." He said casually.

_No. Way. What are the odds of this happening… out of everyone in Bayville, _I_ meet the guy with super-speed?_ Star shook her head. "Wow." She said.

"Betcha never seen anyone run as fast as me, have ya?" Pietro grinned.

"Actually…" Star pointed. "Now it's your time to look at the store front." Then she vanished.

She saw Pietro twist around. She waved sunnily at him while leaning against a lamp-post. His eyes widened. She shot back there.

"Umm…" Pietro stared at her as Star continued her meal. Oh what the heck, he'd already seen the speed.

It took under twenty seconds and she was finished. Would have taken less but she was being relatively self-conscious and trying hard not to spill anything. Pietro just watched her. "You're a mutant too?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I'm the same type of mutant as you. I got mine by being kidnapped by these mad scientists." Star shook her head as she wiped her mouth. Not that it was necessary. "They stook me and my friend Kate in a cage and injected us with animal DNA. The Fang Gang reckon she's part ant, because she's amazingly strong."

"And you're…"

"I'm part hummingbird. You know, super fast but burn through a gazillion calories while I do it." Star shrugged. "So what type of powers can you have with evolution?"

Pietro shook his head. "Uh, all kinds. My father, he can control metal. My sis has the ability of… I don't really understand it, but it's basically mater distortion or something. There's a boy in the Brotherhood who makes earthqua-"

"What's the brotherhood?" Star cut in.

"Oh, it's the group I'm in. There are three Bayville Mutants groups. The X-Geeks – well, they're actually the X-Men, but we call them the X-Geeks – The Morlocks and the Brotherhood. Naturally the brotherhood is the best."

"I dunno." Star smirked. "The Fang Gang – the New Mutants in town are pretty cool. We just got back from saving the world from insane zombies in Paris."

"Really? We were in Mexico two months ago trying to stop everyone from turning into mutants by this insanely strong mutant called the Apocalypse." Pietro smirked.

"The Doomsday Group hypnotises people and almost convinced them to blow up the world. We're still sorta fighting them, but we're taking a break at the moment. Can't save the world too much."

"We have to put up with abuse from everyone. Every human hates us. Sometimes mobs form in front of our house yelling about muties."

"I was kidnapped, stuck in a _dog-crate_ for three months, while my DNA was tampered with, by insane scientists who stabbed me with needles in pretty much every place."

Pietro thought about that. He knew he was beaten but he wouldn't even admit it to himself, let alone her. "What kind of powers do you hybrids have?"

"Well, Maya and Fang are human/avians. They have huge wings, and can fly. Ratchet has sort of insane senses. Kate of course has super-strength and Hoyden heals really fast."

"And of course, there's you."

"There's me."

"You know, I've never met anyone else with super-speed." Pietro mused.

"Me either."

"You wanna race?"

"Sure." Star smirked. "Let's go."

"You gonna pay?"

"Nah. Where's the best place to go running?"

"Follow me."

And the two mutants shot out of the restaurant so fast no-one could see them.

* * *

><p>"Once around the outskirts of town." Pietro said. "I mean, we could go further, but when I'm in front of you there'd be nothing to stop you from just going straight back here and pretending you beat me."<p>

Star frowned. "_Excuse _me? I don't need to cheat to beat you." She said testily.

"_Sure _you don't." Pietro smiled patronisingly.

Star growled and got into the ready position. "Ready."

Pietro followed her lead and crouched, one foot back. "Set."

"Go!"

Pietro and Star shot off. No way, was she actually going in _front _of him? He hadn't lost a race for years! He pushed faster and got exactly the same speed as her.

She looked at him, her hair flying off in all directions. Pietro felt his breath catch (what? Why?) as she grinned, and then pushed harder.

Then suddenly the race was over and they were slowing down.

"I win." Pietro laughed, trying to control his breathing. Man, he hadn't had to go at his fastest for years. No wait, when he was showing off to Danielss he'd been going a touch faster then necessary. And of course when he had to sneak into the X-Men's house to deliver Mystique's message to Blue Boy, he hadn't exactly been dawdling. And then… whatever, who cared?

"No, I did." Star put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"No, I did."

"I did!"

"I did!"

"Me!"

"No, me!"

"Rematch!" Star snapped.

"Fine by me."

A moment later they were both crouching. "Ready, set, go." Star said and they shot off.

Aha, _now _Pietro was winning. A bit further and – _Ai-yah!_

A weird humming sound shot past him. Pietro kept up and they both stopped in a second. "I win!" Star laughed.

"No you didn't!" Pietro protested. Why had she been humming – oh wait, she was part humming bird, wasn't she?

"Yes I did."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did."

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh."

"Nu-uh."

"Uh-huh!"

"Race again." Pietro snapped.

"Okay."

Star and Pietro ran off again. Pietro found himself focusing on the way her hair shone in the light, her slight frown while running, and suddenly they both stopped.

"Huh, that time _I _won."

"No, I did."

"No, I'm pretty sure you were behind me."

"Dream on, Evolution-boy. I kicked your butt."

"As if, Hummingbird."

"Race again?"

"Definitely."

* * *

><p>"Where's Pietro?" Lance asked, looking around. "I haven't seen him all day."<p>

"I think he left around nine." Wanda said casually, reaching into the fridge and pulling out a cookie.

"What would Pietro do that took all day yo?" Toad asked, catching a fly. "He's the fastest guy in Bayville."

"I dunno." Lance shrugged. "I'd say he was setting up some elaborate prank on Daniels, but honestly, I think he started to respect the guy a little since he trashed Mathews's car, stood up for mutant rights and attacked the jock team. Not that he'd admit it, of course."

"Besides, the guy's gotten violent, better at fighting and can shoot flaming spikes now, so he wouldn't fight him face to face. And what's he gonna do to his home, yo?" Toad asked. "He lives in a sewer."

"So where could he be?" Fred wondered. "Probably out at that new burger place."

"Fred, you do realise we're talking about Pietro and not you?" Lance asked.

"Whatever, he'll turn up." Wanda shook her head and turned on the television. A news program started playing.

"_There has been information of a blonde super-fast mutant racing around Bayville." _The news reporter read. _"He or she has disrupted the peace but appears to be doing nothing more than running-"_

"Huh. I was right." Wanda shrugged as she flipped the channel halfway through the report. "He turned up."

* * *

><p>"You're <em>kidding<em>." Ratchet groaned. The Fang Gang were standing inside the Bayville mall, eating ice-cream. "Dude, I am telling you, there is no way that choc-mint is better than the classic chocolate."

"I like choc-mint." Hoyden protested.

"Should we be worried about Star?" Maya turned to Fang. "I mean, she's been gone for hours."

Fang shrugged. "What could have happened to her? She could get away from any danger before it decided to be dangerous."

Maya shrugged. "I guess. But she's vanished."

"She'll turn up." Fang shrugged. "If we haven't found her by five, we'll go out and try to find her." It was three o'clock.

Kate hesitated. "How do we catch Star?"

"We'll manage." Fang said, licking his vanilla ice-cream. Ratchet had seen a twenty-dollar note on the motor way, but since Hoyden was the one who got it, no-one argued when he said he wanted ice-cream. If he risked his life for it…

Well, not his life, but it sure would've hurt.

"She's probably robbed a store for food by now." Ratchet said as he finished his ice-cream.

"Hey, as long as she didn't get caught on camera…" Maya shrugged. "Even if someone saw the blur, no-one would actually recognise her as a human."

"A human/cockroach hybrid." Ratchet corrected.

Kate grimaced. "She's not _cockroach_." She defended her friend.

"Hey, cockroaches are fast." Ratchet smirked.

"Let's not argue." The pacifist shook her head and groaned.

* * *

><p>"Haha, that time <em>I <em>definitely won."

"We're not playing last to cross the finishing line, Pietro."

"That's why you didn't win."

"No, I'm pretty sure I won."

"Not likely."

"Race again?"

"You're on."

Pietro was rapidly becoming exhausted but determined not to show it. _She's gotta be getting tired too_. He thought.

Star was starving. Her stomach was growling, screaming for food, but she was determined not to let Pietro win. That arrogant, smug, cute boy… wait, what? Star ran over her thought.

"Ready…" Pietro said slowly, his breathing deeper, "Set… Go!"

Both shot off. They both were running low and yet still it only took three minutes for them to go all the way around Bayville.

"I won."

"No, I…" Pietro slumped against the tree.

"Are you alright?" Star asked him, kneeling down next to him.

"Yeah… sure. Just let me… catch my breath a bit."

Now Star was looking, she saw he looked half exhausted. "You don't have endurance as part of your powers, do you." It wasn't a question.

"No." Pietro's chest heaved. "Wait… you… do?"

"Uh-huh." Her stomach rumbled. "But I'm also starving." Understatement.

Pietro pulled himself up. "Then we should… probably get something… to eat… and rest a bit… before we race again."

"Before you faint, yeah." Star held her hand out but she shook. She was feeling light-headed.

"You don't… look so good either." Pietro concentrated on his breathing. "Come on… let's go back… to the Brotherhood… place. We have to have… a lot of food there, cause of… Blob. And there's… places to rest."

"Sounds good."

It took about a minute for them to get there. Pietro grimaced and opened the door. "Hi guys, I'm home."

"Wondered where you got to." A boy with long shaggy hair glanced at them, then blinked when he saw Star walk in.

"Lance – Star. Star – Lance."

"Hi." Star waved at him slightly.

"Hey." Lance glanced back to the T.V.

They wandered into the kitchen. Star pulled plenty of stuff out while Pietro sat down. He looked pale, Star realised.

"Oh hi Pietro." A gothic girl stepped in, wearing a brown/black jacket and long black pants. "Where were you?"

Then she realised someone else was there. "Who are you?"

"Star. You?" Star asked as she munched on some food. Man, she was _starving_.

"Wanda." She glanced at her brother who looked exhausted. Then she realised that Star had practically inhaled all the food.

"What happened to my brother?"

Star glanced at Pietro. "He's your brother?" She asked Wanda. "Not much family resemblance. We've been racing all day."

They heard a chuckle from the back and Star glanced around to see Lance looking slightly bemused. "And I'm guessing that he won most of them?"

"Nope. He didn't win any."

"Aah. So he was going easy on you?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah, I was." Pietro grimaced.

"Oh bite me. You were not."

Wait, she'd already finished all her food, so how come she was still munching on something? Looked like a box of Twinkies **(FYI, we don't have Twinkies in Australia so sorry if they don't come in boxes. But both Maximum Ride and X-Men Evolution are American so…)**. How did she get that out of the cupboards?

"Was too."

"Were not."

"Uh, Star," Lance cut in. "Hate to break it to ya, but we're mutants here. Pietro there has super-speed. If he didn't win, it's because he _meant_ to lose. Although he's never done that before."

Star looked at him. A second later she was in front of him, frowning. She'd crossed the kitchen in about five milliseconds. "Or it could be because I have super-speed too."

Wanda blinked. What?

Then she realised her brother was watching Star. He was concentrating on the way her hair fell down, and on her face, and he smiled, a sort of dreaminess in his eyes.

Lance looked pretty much the same way when he looked at Kitty.

Pietro was in love, whether he knew it or not.

Wanda almost laughed as Star sat back down. "Hey, do you mind if I watch T.V?" She asked Pietro.

"Sure, I'll come with." Pietro said, and a moment later they were both sitting down watching the small television. Sitting down very close.

Lance and Wanda looked at each other. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Wanda asked him.

"Uh-huh." Lance shook his head, bemused. "That's creepy."

"They're so much alike."

"Yeah." Lance looked at the two as they both laughed together at something on the screen. "They're either related, or they're soulmates."

* * *

><p><strong>Like it, hate it, let me know! Review peoples! Please?<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Let's Race**

* * *

><p>Chapter Three<p>

"So, since I'm new in town," Star said as they left the house, "Could you show me around?"

"Sure." Pietro smiled, feeling something run through his system. He wasn't sure why this particular girl made him feel like this. It was like his stomach was turning backflips, and a warm feeling swelled up within him. Every time she smiled, he had the urge to smile back. Heck, every time she said one word to him he had to urge to smile.

It was weird. Seriously, he'd decided on the attributes of his dream girl just this morning! Star was gorgeous and fast, sure, but…

She was cocky, had an attitude, definitely didn't like letting him beat her at anything, and was human. Well, more human than he was.

"So where to?" Star asked, smiling.

"Let's see, shall we?" And the teenagers shot off.

"And here we have Bayville High." Pietro said as they reached a place with male grunts and the sound of thuds coming from the back. "Currently the jock population of Bayville are trying to learn how to better their game of Footie."

"This your school?"

"Nah." Pietro waved a hand. "The principal kicked the Brotherhood out after we were found out as mutants. Well actually after the guys started a fight with the X-Geeks – I wasn't there at the time. They say the new principal is half-way decent, but who has time for school?"

"I know, right? I ran away from my old school to join Fang's Gang."

"Considering you have the same powers as me, I guess when you say you ran away you weren't kidding." Pietro grinned.

"Yep. Run like heck takes a whole new meaning when you're talking to me. And to you, I guess." Star shrugged.

Pietro frowned as the football team **(I think that's what they play…)** tackled each other. "Jerks." He muttered.

"Wait… you said something earlier about anti-mutant racists and how they sometimes form _mobs _outside your house." Star said slowly, looking at Pietro with a feeling of indignation and anger bubbling up. "Don't tell me that these brain-dead losers are a part of that?"

Pietro shrugged. "Well, yeah. Actually, as far as I remember, the one human in the school who didn't hate us was Blue-boy's girlfriend. And I think she already knew that he was blue and covered in fur."

"How do you miss that?" Star blinked.

"Oh, he wears a hologram when out in public. Think that Amanda or whatever the heck her name is saw him when he turned it off."

"Okay then. So basically these idiots don't realise that if they let you into the team they'd automatically win? Or the same goes for any of the mutants."

Pietro smirked. "They just don't like being beaten, even by their own team-mates."

A crafty look crossed Star's face. "If they don't like being beaten, then they shouldn't play because _no-one _wins all the time. And if they shouldn't play, there's no real point for them to have a ball now, is there?" Then she took off.

Pietro blinked and then she was back, holding the little oval ball in her hand. "Catch!" She threw the ball at Pietro, who easily ran fast enough to grab it.

"Come on, let's split before the Football team realise the ball is missing." Star added.

"Why? What are they gonna do? We'd run rings around them."

Star shrugged. "Fang would probably blow up if I got arrested twice in one day."

"Who's this Fang you keep talking about?"

"Oh, he's the leader of the Fang Gang. He's a human/avian hybrid, oh wait I mentioned that didn't I? Anywho, he assembled the bunch of us and now we're all fighting the Doomsday Group along with the Flock."

"Who are the Flock?"

"It's kinda complicated. They're a bunch of Human/Avian hybrids. Fang used to be a part of it but he split off. Their leader Max is really ticked off at him."

"Why?"

"He left a note behind. Just boom, he left the Flock. And they were a family, they grew up together and whatnot, except for the new kid Dylan. So I can't blame Max for being mad at him, but still… I mean, I saw Max and Maya together take down this guy who was huge, practically invulnerable and had super-strength or something."

Pietro's thoughts instantly jumped to Fred. He was hard to beat, sure. So this Max guy managed to fight an adult Fred who might be smarter and definitely more angry? He _must_ be good. Definitely not the kind of guy you want to get on the wrong side of.

"So I guess Max is a good fighter."

"Yep. Plus the fact that they were dating at the time really made it all the worse when Fang vanished."

"Uh… Fang and Max were dating?"

Star looked at him like he was an idiot. "_Duh_."

"O-Kay. So I'm guessing they're gay."

"What? _No_. Not that I know of, anyhow. Pretty sure they're not."

"But… you said…" Now Pietro was confused.

"Max is a girl."

"A _girl_ managed to take down a huge, angry, invulnerable man?"

"_Excuse me_? First off, there were technically two girls – Max and Maya. And second, hello, girls kick butt. I beat you at running."

"You do not."

"I do too!"

"Fine, let's race!"

Just then a member of the football team came out and realised Star was holding the ball. "Hey, she stole our ball!"

Star made a rude gesture at the jock. "Back to the place we were before?" She asked as more players came out, looking angry.

"I'm already there." Pietro retorted, as the jocks raced forwards.

But the two blondes had already vanished.

* * *

><p>"Where is she?" Maya asked aloud to herself. Since no-one had a clue where Star was by the time they left, they'd split and started looking for her.<p>

Hoyden was playing the 'little kid' role to the hilt, smiling at people and asking if they knew where his 'older sister' was. Ratchet offered to knock one of his teeth out to make him look even younger, but Hoyden wasn't sure if his teeth grew back so Fang didn't let him.

Ratchet was listening to the gossip around town. Almost literally. He figured that Star would eventually start running around and someone would have to notice. Maya agreed.

Kate was doing pretty much the same thing as Hoyden, asking if people knew where her best friend was.

Fang and Maya were both flying, trying to find her. Maya was taking one half of the town, Fang was taking the other.

"Star…" Maya sighed. "Where the heck did you… there you are!" A flash of blonde shooting at super-speed down below her. Maya angled her wings and shot down, but Star had already gone.

"Damn it!" Maya groaned. She kicked hard at a stone, then swore. "Should have seen _that _coming. What the heck is she doing, any way?" She asked aloud, and then spread her wings to go back flying.

She leaped back into the air just as there was a hissing noise and she saw the flesh coloured blur shooting back. Maya landed again and tensed.

Then to her surprise, the blur split into two. Star stopped in front of her, while some other blonde person kept running. Half a millisecond later he was back. "Star, what's the matter?" The boy asked.

"Star, there you are. We've been looking all over for you." Maya said, rolling her eyes. "And by the way, who are you?" She asked the other super-speedy blonde.

"Right. Pietro – Maya. Maya – Pietro. Pietro, Maya is a human/avian hybrid. Maya, Pietro is an _evolution-ised _mutant. That means basically he'd the next step in evolution." Star nodded. "Why've you been looking for me?"

_Evolutionised? Whatever. If he's not attacking anyone, I don't care if he's an alien._ Maya thought.

Maya shrugged. "Cause you've been gone for hours? It's five-thirty now and you raced out of the police-station at nine."

"Police station?" Pietro asked.

"I got arrested earlier today." Star waved it away.

"So good to know you're okay." Maya nodded. "Fang said to tell you to be back at the mall by ten, otherwise we'd start searching again. You just been racing or something?"

"Yeah." Star nodded.

"See ya." Maya spread her wings and soared into the air and left. Pietro looked at Star and raised an eyebrow. "You got _arrested_?"

"We spent the night in a library, and explained it away by pretending we got really drunk last night." Star explained. "But the police said that we had to stay in a cell until our parents came." She laughed dryly. "Since none of us wanted to spend the rest of our lives there, we just opened the door and told them that _they _let us out."

"You opened a police cell door?"

"Really strong girl on our team."

"Ah. Okay. Keep racing?"

"Back here?"

"You're on."

* * *

><p>They ran for another hour, tops, before Star decided that they shouldn't keep running all day. Pietro agreed. Star was fine but he still hadn't fully recovered from almost fainting earlier.<p>

"Water?" He offered her the bottle. "Thanks." The girl grinned, flipping her blonde hair out of the way.

Pietro felt himself mesmerised by the way her hair fell over her face gently as she brushed it aside, how her eyes half closed, how even relaxing every part of her seemed to have an attitude. No, not quite the word… arrogant – no, that was too up-herself… cockiness. She looked cocky, the kind of girl who didn't take anything from anyone.

And she'd been running all day, and yet Star didn't even sweat apparently. Her hair was perfect, as always… probably part of her powers. She'd mentioned endurance. Although why her hair fell directly back into place was a mystery.

Pietro had heard of girls who could walk through a tornado and emerge without a hair out of place, but he didn't think it was _literal_.

She finished her drink and screwed the lid back on. She passed it back to Pietro, who took it and placed it down on the ground.

"What do you want to do now?" He asked.

Star shrugged. Then slowly a mischievous glow shone in her eyes.

"Hey Pietro, you know how there are mutant racists in this town?" Star asked, a flicker of a smile crossing her face.

"Yeah…"

"Do any of them own a restaurant or a café or something?"

* * *

><p>"This is actually nice. Surprised I never thought of this before." Pietro said, lying down on the picnic rug they'd, uh, <em>borrowed <em>from that shop. Star had taken a _lot _of food.

"Hey, if you're going to pick a fight with someone who has super-powers solely for the reason they can beat you in a fight… well, rethink that plan. And if you don't… well, you might get robbed." Star said, biting into an apple. "And what are these things? Gut-bombs?"

"Yeah. They're burgers that we have here."

"Not bad." Star nodded, wrapping the apple core in the paper as she brushed a crumb off her lips.

She looked over at Pietro who was biting into an apple. They'd gotten a lot of apples. He was almost the opposite of James. He wasn't bitter at all, understood what it was like to be different, flirtatious and Star knew that beneath that self-centred arrogant, egocentric shell, there was – well, a less self-centred, less arrogant, egocentric little boy. But he was fun to be around anyway. And although he was conceited when it came to his running (understandable, anyway), Star had a feeling that he'd be indignant if she beat him at something – not bitter, not resentful, just a little indignant.

And hey, he was cute. Star could definitely think of worse people to be running around with.

"So… now what?" Star asked, with a soft smile. "More racing?"

"Sure… but how bout we rest for a bit?"

"So you admit I'm faster then you." Star grinned.

"No… I admit that you last longer then me, but you are not faster than me."

"So you want another race?"

Pietro opened his mouth. Star could almost see the word on his mouth. "Actually, I'm thinking something a little more low-key. Just until I get my strength back up."

"Sure thing." Star shrugged. "What do you want to do?"

"Well… I was thinking… maybe… go to the movies?"

"Sounds good." Star grinned. _Is he asking me out… is he asking me out? No, it's just a little friend thing… I think. Should I ask – wait, if he says it's not a date I'd look like an idiot. Best to save it. _"What's playing?"

"I dunno… but I personally am not planning on getting a ticket, so we can change our minds halfway through…" Pietro grinned.

"Fine with me!"

* * *

><p>"We have a comedy, a thriller, a romantic comedy, some tragic thing… one about a werewolf… or one on mutant whales. Mutant whales? Is there such a thing?"<p>

Pietro shrugged. "I guess… what do you wanna watch?"

Thery were both standing inside the Bayville Movie theatre, looking through what was playing. Star thought about it. "Well, I see enough mutants at home, never really got into the werewolf thing and I have enough action in my life."

"Okay. Well, I'll delete that tragic thing… what's it called? _Broken Promises_? Bleh. That leaves us the romantic comedy – _The Very Best Worst Thing _– or the comedy, _My Life's A Nightmare; How's Yours?._"

"Uh… the comedy then." Star looked at the description. "When's it starting?"

"About a minute ago."

"So we're right on time!"

They both shot off and slipped into the movie theatre. Pietro grabbed them two seats and they sat down together. "So… have you got a girlfriend?"

Pietro blinked. "No. Why?"

"Just making conversation."

"You got a boyfriend?"

"Nope."

"Okay."

Then the movie began.

* * *

><p>"That was a good movie, I guess. Now what?" Star asked as they left the building – first, of course. The sun had sunk while they were in the movies, but with all the stars, the almost full moon and the streetlights it didn't matter all that much.<p>

"Well, what have we already done today?"

"I got arrested, we've raced a hundred times, robbed a cafe, disturbed the peace and snuck into a movie theatre. What else is there to do in Bayville?"

"We could… uh…"

Star looked at him. "What do you normally do for fun around here?"

"Well, generally we don't do all that much. Sometimes we get into fights with the X-Men, sometimes we fight _with _the X-Geeks but that doesn't happen often, only in serious end-of-the-world scenarios, and other times we just wait around."

"Huh. Let's go for a walk then." Star said, feeling a little nicer than normal. She wasn't sure why she was feeling butterflies in her stomach – alright, she did know, but still…

"A run?"

"No, a walk."

Pietro looked at her oddly. "Huh?"

"You know, take time to stop and smell the roses." Star shrugged.

"Um… I don't really do that all that often."

"Me either, to be honest. But I've spent the past two days running mainly, and it's hard to take a look at the scenery when it's flashing past at the speed of light."

Pietro blinked.

"Okay, I guess it's a dumb idea for two kids with super-speed. I dunno… I just thought it'd be nice to slow down for a change." Whoa, what was _with _her today?

"Sure, I guess. Let's go to the park then."

Then Pietro took off and Star followed right behind him.

"Ha! I beat you!"

"We weren't racing! I let you go in front because you knew the way!"

"Sure you did."

"What, you want an actual race?"

"Bring it on, sister!"

"Oh, I'll bring it then. Back to our regular race-track."

"I'll see you there."

"I'll wave as you come up."

Then with a _woosh _and an _ai-yah! _they were gone.

_So much for stopping to smell the roses. _Star thought to herself as they readied themselves for a race. By now they both pretty much knew the drill.

_Actually – I like this better._

* * *

><p>"What's the time?" Star asked an hour later as they stopped for a bit to get a drink of water.<p>

"I don't know. No watch."

"Okay." Star walked up to the nearest person wearing a watch. "Excuse me, ma'am, could you tell me the time?"

"Sure thing." She looked at her watch. "It's five past ten."

"Oh _crap _I'm late." Star shook her head and smiled at the woman. "Thanks. Hey Pietro?" She shot up to the boy. "I said I'd meet up with my friends at the mall five minutes ago."

"I don't think your _that _fast."

"Funny. Could you show me the way?"

"I'm not sure… maybe."

"What? Would you get lost?"

Pietro scowled. "_Please _Pietro." She pleaded.

"Well… since you put it like that."

Thirty seconds later, there was a blur in front of the Fang Gang and two blondes stopped. "Here we are." Pietro grinned.

"Hey guys." Star smiled.

"There you are, Star." Fang said. "We were getting worried."

"Sorry. Lost track of the time."

Fang shrugged. "Okay." He looked at Pietro.

"Oh, sorry. Guys, this is Pietro. Pietro, the girl you haven't met is Kate, the girl you have met is Maya, Fang's the one dressed in black, Ratchet's the one wearing headphones and Hoyden's the one who looks five years old."

"Hey!"

"Face it Hoyden," Maya rolled her eyes, "you look young. Get over it."

"Race you again tomorrow?" Star turned to Pietro.

"Sounds good. What time?"

"About nine's normally when the police show up. Nine-thirty good for you?"

"Yep. Regular racing spot?"

"I'll be there." Star promised.

Pietro turned and raced off. Star looked after him and then turned to her friends. "So – have we figured out where we're going to be sleeping tonight?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, I couldn't help myself. This chapter has Lancitty in it. ****Lancitty rules!**

**For any non-Lancitty fans, don't worry. It's not exactly very long. So don't worry.**

**Review! I haven't gotten any so far! Review!**

**Oh yeah - and i don't own anything. Not Maximum Ride or X-Men Evolution.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Four<p>

"Wow. We're all still alive." Star said the next morning. "I was sure we'd all get murdered in our sleep."

"This is Bayville park, not central park." Ratchet said as they sat up from underneath the tree. Kate, Ratchet, Star and Hoyden had all spent the night lying under a huge oak in Bayville park, into the little nooks and staying safe from the weather.

Fang and Maya had spent the night asleep on the tree above them. None of the non-bird hybrids could understand how they were so comfortable, but apparently they felt extremely safe.

Ratchet had asked if they were going to make a nest. Fang had replied that it might be comfier but it would attract more attention to see two teenagers in two nests then two teenagers sleeping in a tree.

It took five minutes for them to realise he'd been joking.

"You reckon if we scared them they'd fall out?" Hoyden pointed up at the sleeping forms of Fang and Maya. The land-dwelling hybrids had woken up because a squirrel had raced across Kate, who had yelped and woken up Star, who'd automatically kicked Ratchet, who flipped his hand out and slapped Hoyden. All in the space of one second.

"Well, if we have to be awake, they do." Star grinned.

"Oh, wow!" Ratchet pointed and gasped. "The ice-queen – she's smiling! That boyfriend of yours has really-"

Even Ratchet's senses didn't tip him off to the fact that Star was a little bit angry with that comparison until he was lying on the ground with Star sitting on him, her fingers around his neck but not squeezing.

"Pietro is not my boyfriend." Star hissed. "Understood?"

"Okay, okay. Just a friend. Sheesh." Star climbed off Ratchet who pulled himself to his feet. "So, we going to wake them or not?"

Kate shrugged. "Sure. Want a boost up?"

"That would be nice."

Kate extended her hand and Star stood on it. Then Kate pushed up, holding her hand above her head. It was a weird sight for any passer-byer – Star was rail thin, but Kate was holding her up with one hand high above her head.

Then again, this was Bayville. Odd things happened.

Star climbed up onto the tree and Ratchet followed. Hoyden and Kate stayed behind. "What exactly are we going to do?" Star whispered.

"Didn't you read Fang's Blog before we joined?"

"Of course – that's how I joined, but what…"

"Watch and learn."

Ratchet snuck up close to Fang, deciding that Maya seemed to enjoy fighting much more then Fang. He got up close, and leaned in.

"ERASERS!" He shouted.

Fang awoke with a jolt.

Down below, Kate and Hoyden watched as the boy fell from tree and slammed into the ground. "Ow." He muttered.

"Well, it was kinda your own fault." Kate told Ratchet as she helped the super-sense guy stand up.

Ratchet shot her a dirty look and then rubbed his stomach where Fang had kicked out. Star scampered down the tree, and then Maya leaped down gracefully. "What was that about?" She asked.

"Ratchet wanted to see if you'd fall out of the tree." Hoyden shrugged. Ratchet glared at him.

"Thanks a lot, pipsqueak."

Hoyden shrugged.

"Well, obviously we don't." Maya shrugged.

"Whatever." Star shook her head. "I've gotta run to meet Pietro."

"Do you even know what time it is?" Fang asked her.

"Nope." She raced off to a jogger jogging along the path. She spoke for a second, and then zoomed back to the other hybrids. "It's quarter past nine. Said I'd meet him at nine-thirty, and I don't want to be late."

"Okay." Fang nodded and tried to speak again, but Star had already left. He looked at Maya in confusion. "Why would she think she's going to be late?"

"Probably wants to outshine him." Maya shrugged. "So what's for breakfast?"

* * *

><p>Despite the fact she was fifteen minutes early, Pietro was already waiting for her. "About time. I've been waiting <em>forever<em>." Pietro rolled his eyes at her.

"Well, it's your own fault for coming early, isn't it?" Star smirked at him. "If you'd come when it was time, you wouldn't have this problem."

"I did come on time. You were late."

"And what time was that?"

"Nine-thirty." Pietro knew this was absolute sh… garbage, but Star didn't have a watch.

"So how come it's twenty past nine now?"

"What makes you think it's twenty past?"

"I can read time by the sun." Star lied. Hey, it _was_ twenty past (she'd stopped for some breakfast along the way and that jogger hadn't been specific).

Pietro didn't have an answer.

"You wanna start?" Star asked.

"Sure. Round the town and back?"

"Duh."

_Zoom!_

_Ai-yah!_

"Beat you this time!"

"Not likely."

"I don't care how likely it is, I beat you this time."

"No, you didn't."

"What, you blind?"

"No, I can see perfectly that I won and you're trying to get credit."

"Race again?"

"I'll wave to you from the finish line."

"Bring it on."

And they were gone.

* * *

><p>"Oi Pietro!" Lance yelled, walking through the park. "Where is he… <em>Pietro!<em> Maximoff! Where are you?"

"Lance?"

Lance spun around to see a brunette smiling at him. "What's up?"

"Oh, hey Kitty. Just trying to find Pietro. You haven't seen him, have you?" Lance said to his girlfriend, his eyes directly meeting her big brown eyes.

"You mean the blonde blur that's racing around Bayville?"

"One of them."

Kitty's eyes widened. "What?"

"Long story short, there's two blonde super-speeds in Bayville now. Naturally they met and well, they've been racing since yesterday morning."

"Huh. That would explain it." Kitty nodded. "We thought that he'd gotten hyper on coffee or something."

"Nah. When that happens, Wanda ties him up with his own feet until he calms down. So do you know where Pietro went?"

"Sorry, not a clue. What do you need him for anyway?"

"Don't need him but he'd run himself into the ground before admitting to her that he's exhausted. And as annoying as the hyper brat is, he's still our friend."

"Okay then." Kitty nodded. "I'll let you know if he turns up. But wouldn't she – this girl who he's running with – let him know when she's about to faint?"

Lance shook his head. "Nah. They're so alike it's freaky. I'm not sure if they're related or if they're soulmates, but, Stella or whatever her name was probably wouldn't complain either. Besides, I think part of her powers is that she can run all day."

Kitty nodded, and then glanced behind the trees. "I'd better go before the park blows up. The senior X-Men are doing a training session with the juniors." She added. "How to control powers no matter what. Someone is going to fail if all five of us aren't there."

"Five? What about that new kid who replaced Daniels?"

"Bobby? He's good at fighting and all, but despite what Scott and Jean say, we're kinda watching over him as well. Bye!" She raced off.

Lance looked after her and then shook his head. "Well, if the park's crawling with X-Geeks, I really don't think that they're around here."

"Those freaks are – well, freaks." Someone muttered behind him. Lance turned around to see five teenagers (all of them around seventeen – two cheerleaders, two jocks and one girl wearing regular clothes).

"I know, right?" A cheerleader nodded. Lance gripped his hand and tried not to make an earthquake out of anger – park was filled with X-Men, and he so didn't want a fight.

"Definitely." The regular girl nodded. "I mean, Matt just called me, said that there was an insane mutant with super-speed running around Bayville. Keep stopping at that old oak tree near the swimming pools."

"Think we should teach 'em a lesson?" A jock grunted.

Lance left the park, heading for the oak tree. He was half hoping that the jocks did decide to go and teach Star and Pietro a lesson – or any of the other mutants, for that matter.

Considering how alike Star and Pietro were, that jock would probably end up tied to a lamp-post by his own clothes in his underwear.

* * *

><p>"Now that time <em>I <em>beat _you_."

"In your dreams, Pietro."

"Obviously I'm psychic and can dream the future than."

"If you win in a race against me in the future, have I got a broken leg? Or maybe am I in a coma? Cause I see no reason you'd win otherwise."

Lance raised an eyebrow as he reached the oak tree.

"Rematch, then."

"Duh. That's what we've been doing all day."

"Then let's not break with tradition."

Then there was a flash of wind and both of them were gone. Lance frowned and stepped where they'd see him. It took about three seconds.

"See, I won!" Star grinned.

"Nope. I did."

"_Suuure _you did."

"See? You agree, I won."

"No, you lost. I won."

"Race again?"

"I'm there."

A rush of wind and Lance blinked. They hadn't even noticed him.

"Haha! I accept the honour of winning this race."

"Taking all _my_ credit. I knew it."

"Have you two been doing this all day?" Lance asked. Star and Pietro both looked at him. "Yep." Star replied.

"Got a problem with it?" Pietro asked.

"Actually, you're both going to run yourself into the ground. You need a break." Lance rolled his eyes. "Not that I really care, but Wanda thinks you've been a _good _brother, so she'd flip out if we let you die."

"Thinks?" Star asked Pietro.

"It's a long story involving an insane asylum, a shape-shifter, a snowboarding Pyromaniac, a Toad with a hologram and a mind-altering mutant."

"You'll have to tell me later then."

"Whatever." Lance shook his head. "Anyway, you need to rest."

Pietro thought about that. "Nah, I'd rather race." He shot off, Star behind him.

"Now that time I won. You can't deny it. I won by a margin."

"Because you cheated! You had a head-start!"

"Still won."

"Really? Then let's rematch and actually do it without cheating!"

"Done."

Then they were gone.

"Seriously, Pietro, Star!" Lance shouted as they came back. "You've got to take a rest for a bit-"

"I won!"

"No, I did!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"Oh, like you could win without cheating."

"Bite me."

"Fine."

"Take a step near me and I'll rip your tongue out. I wasn't kidding when I said I had five years of all Catholic Boarding school."

Lance could barely tell who was who. Everything was something that Pietro could say – you know, assuming he spent five years at Catholic Boarding school.

Then they were gone.

Lance waited for two seconds. "Seriously, I'm gonna go get Wanda. She'll stop you – okay, I'll just go get her now." Lance rolled his eyes as they shot off again.

* * *

><p>"Hey Lance." Fred said, walking up. Behind him Toad was hopping next to Wanda. "What's up?"<p>

"I can't stop them." Lance shrugged.

"Stop who?" Wanda asked.

_Zoom! _

_Ai-yah!_

"I won!"

"As if!"

"Oh, come on. You couldn't outrace me if someone strapped rockets to your feet."

"Yeah – hey, would that even make us go faster or slower?"

"We'd crash into something. So rematch?"

"Done."

They vanished.

"Oh. Stop them." Todd nodded.

The two blondes arrived again. "That time, I totally – EEW!" Star shrieked, grabbing her hair. She wasn't being particularly girly – even Max would go 'gross!' if Toad slimed her hair.

Assuming they weren't fighting or anything mildly important like that.

"What is this stuff?" Star scraped some goo out of her hair.

"Slime." Todd said.

"Gross out! Where'd you get it?"

"You don't want to know the answer to that." Pietro advised her, looking at his team-mate who was smirking. "Let's just say there's a reason we call Toad _slimy_."

"GROSS! So this is basically _spit?_"

"Yeah." Toad nodded. "Does wonders for the hair. Like what I did with mine?" He touched his straggly locks.

Star screamed in disgust, anger, and hostility.

"You want me to help you get it out?" Pietro asked.

"Sure. Once I murder the warty Toad over there!"

"Hey, I haven't got any warts, yo!"

"Huh. You two really are a lot alike." Wanda observed. "Pietro would react in pretty much the same way – then again, you're a girl and girls are perfectly allowed to freak out if they get _that _slime in their hair Okay, to be fair, anyone's allowed to freak out like that."

"Look, Star, sorry about the sliming, but both of you would probably kill yourselves before you stop running." Lance rolled his eyes.

"And this is your concern because?"

"Another race?" Pietro asked Star.

"Naturally."

They both spun around but didn't move.

"Hey!" Star yelped, grabbing her feet. "I'm stuck. And my foot's turned blue. Why has my foot turned blue? That is not normal. Help!"

"Wanda!" Pietro snapped, grabbing at his own feet.

"What?" Wanda smiled at him.

"So your power is to stop people from running." Star rolled her eyes. "I can see how it would be useful living with Pietro, but in actual fights how useful is it?"

"It's not stopping people from running, although that's part of it." Wanda shrugged. "I can control matter, and change mutant powers around. Anyone's powers. I got the X-Men arrested because they 'attacked' the city zoo." She smirked.

"How would that affect me?" Star protested. "Hello, I'm a human/hummingbird hybrid. Evolution has nothing to do with me – unless of course you count the zombies going 'you are the future.' Which is creepy."

"Whatever." Toad shook his head. "Come on, let's get them away from here. Freddy, could you tie 'em up, we'll drop Star at her friends and lock Pietro in his room for an hour or so, yo."

"_That _I can live with." Fred smirked.

Then Star proved she wasn't bluffing about cutting people down at the knees because of her school.

Her fingers curled around Fred's Mohawk and she pulled him forwards. Then she pushed out as hard as she could, crashing him into Wanda.

The hex broke and Star kicked her foot out at Lance, sending him sprawling. Toad spat out at her and shot his tongue out. Star dodged the slime and caught his tongue. Then she raced around Toad, tying him up with his own tongue.

"Wow." Pietro said. He was astounded. This girl had just taken out all of the brotherhood. Granted they weren't really ready to fight, but… Hey, was that proving super-speed rocked, or that Star herself rocked? Or both? "Just… wow. You really are something, aren't you?

"Let's change our running spot, shall we?" Star grinned at him.

Lance pushed himself of the ground. "Okay, if that's how you want to do it." He grimaced, and slammed his foot onto the ground.

Rock shards splintered up from the ground, pushing into the air. Star raced to the side and completely avoided it, stepping far in front of the huge chasm that had oppened up right behind her.

Then Pietro raced around Lance fast, causing him to lose balance. He tripped and slammed into the ground. "Ouch." He pushed himself up.

"Seriously yo, we're trying to help!" Toad jumped into the air and landed in front of Pietro. "We don't wanna see you get dead of exhaustion or whatever."

Freddy crawled up. "Yeah Pietro, we're your friends." He grunted.

A blue flash shot out and curled around the two super-speeds. "Okay then." Wanda grimaced. "Let's try this again, shall we?"

That's when Star realised something very weird had occurred.

"Hold up, wait. What the heck just happened? How did you do that?" She gestured around to the brotherhood members, including Pietro.

"Do what?" Toad asked.

"Well, those costumes. When did you get changed into them?" Instead of Lance, Wanda, Todd, Fred and Pietro, there was Avalanche, The Scarlet Witch, Toad, Blob and Quicksilver – not that Star knew their codenames, but did figure out something was up.

"What about our costumes?" Lance asked her.

"You're kidding, right?"

The brotherhood members stared at her. They seemed to have no idea what she was on about.

"Lance's wearing a fishbowl on his head; Wanda looks like a clichéd super-villainess; Toad's wearing something that's giving him a hunch and makes him look so stupid; Freddy – that's your name, right? – well, Freddy's not wearing anything _that _stupid but he still changed into it for no apparent reason and Pietro's dressed in spandex! What's up with that?"

The brotherhood blinked. "I guess… I dunno. We always wear this when we're doing stuff like this." Blob said, thinking. "Don't you have a costume?"

"A costume? Like in spandex and a cape? No _thank you_. We're lucky to have clean clothes half the time, let alone be able to change in an instant! What, do your rivals the _X-Men _or whatever they call themselves dress in costume or do they laugh at you?"

"Uh, they have costumes." Toad said. "You know, I never really thought about this before. Why do we do this? I mean, Boom Boom never had a costume – not counting her X-Geek one, and she didn't stay with them very long. What's up with this?"

The brotherhood members stopped for long enough for Wanda to forget her hex. Pietro was thinking about it too. Star, on the other hand, kicked out hard.

Pietro understood in an instant and they both shot off, faster and faster, only looking ahead, not behind.

In hindsight, they probably should have been looking at the huge gaping chasm in front of them.

"Aaaaaaah!... Ow."

* * *

><p>"Great move Lance." Wanda rolled her eyes. "Now they're stuck down there. How do we get them out again?"<p>

"Hey, it's not _my _fault." Lance protested. "Okay, it kinda is, but the gap's been there for ages."

"Are they okay?" Toad asked, and he hopped to the edge. "Yo! You guys alright down there?"

"Thanks for your concern." Pietro's voice wafted out. "We're both fine, thank you very much. Get us outta here!"

Lance sighed. "Do we have to? I mean, they'd get out sooner or later."

"Would you rather the X-Geeks finding them and having to get them out of there?" Wanda replied. "I mean, a brotherhood member and… well, I guess an _ally _of the brotherhood, having to get saved by the X-Men?"

The brotherhood sighed. "Alright." Lance grimaced. "We'll go get a rope – look out!"

Fred had moved too close to the edge and fallen straight over. There was a shriek from below and then a sickening thud. "Hey! Don't throw rocks at us!" Star yelled.

"Excuse me, I take offence at that!" Fred snapped, pushing himself up down below in the crevice. "I am not a rock."

"Oh, sorry – I just saw a big shape falling down. You need to lose some weight." Star patted him on the head.

"Oh, that's okay then – wait a minute…" Fred blinked. "That was an insult, wasn't it?"

"No, it was a fact. Freddy, I don't mean to be offensive but if you're literally big enough to squash someone flat then you really need to lose weight." Star pointed out.

"Well… well… well…" Fred shut up.

"So now what?" Toad asked back on the surface.

"Let's get a rope. A really strong rope. And maybe a crane." Lance said, looking down onto the three stuck mutants.

"That's a good idea." Toad nodded. "Lance, you stay here and guard them. Me and mah crimson cutie will go and grab some rope together."

Wanda grimaced. "Not likely."

"Come on, Sweetums, can't you give me a chance?" Toad touched her arm gently. "I'm sorry if-"

"Don't. Touch. Me." Wanda growled, pushing him hard in the stomach. He fell backwards and just as he was falling into the crevice, his tongue curled around Wanda's arm.

She shrieked and grabbed Lance. And then all three of them slammed into the ground.

"Everyone okay?" Lance asked groggily, sitting up.

"I'm fine. You okay sweetie?" Toad asked Wanda. She didn't answer, her eyes tightly closed.

"Sweetums? Wanda? You okay?" Toad touched her head. He moved her lock of hair back to show a huge purple bruise.

"Wanda!"

"Well," Star said with a groan. "_Now _things can't get any better."

* * *

><p><strong>Review, praise, critisise, flame - i don't care! Just read it and let me know you're reading it! PLEASE!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Still don't own anything... **

* * *

><p>Chapter Five<p>

The Fang Gang weren't doing anything together. They'd all split up and were just wandering around Bayville. They had all decided not to use powers if they could possibly help it.

Kate was helping at a school. They'd asked for volunteers and Kate had obliged.

Fang was updating his blog in an internet café – after what happened earlier, they weren't allowed into the library – and he was also doing some research on something.

Maya had gone for a flight a long way from Bayville, and she'd mentioned reading a book when she got back.

Hoyden was – well, his location was anyone's guess. He could have been at a kiddies club or helping Kate at the volunteer thing or…

Ratchet was walking around town, keeping an ear out. Just habit, mainly. He yawned as he wandered, looking for something to do.

He went back to the park, and found to his surprise a bunch of kids his age. Ratchet wondered whether to say hi or just to leave when his eyesight picked up one boy, about twelve, walking alone.

The boy wouldn't have seen it, but some jock stuck his foot out. The boy tripped hard and Ratchet was already on his way. Then he gasped.

The boy had just exploded into five boys.

"Hey, look at the freak! He's a klutz, and can't even walk upwards without falling over!" The jock taunted. The boy looked up from the ground and glared at him, but then he merged back together until there was only one of him.

"I'd love to show you him," Ratchet said from behind. "Unfortunately, I don't have a mirror to show you the biggest freak I can see." He glared at the jock.

"Look, new kid, don't know if you know this yet, but this here is a mutant. A freak of nature." The jock rolled his eyes.

"I just see a kid whose a little different from everyone else. Unlike you, I believe being different is a good thing." Ratchet rolled his eyes. Man, either everyone was going 'you are the future' or 'you are freaks'. There couldn't be a middle ground.

"As if!" The jock snorted, then seemed to think over what he said.

Then Ratchet kicked out and slammed the jock in his knee. He fell down. Then Ratchet heard a noise behind him and ducked, grabbing the fist that had been thrown at him.

He twisted and threw the jock on top of the other jock. "Nice shot. Can't even hit me with my back turned." Ratchet said sarcastically.

Then Ratchet turned to the boy and held his hand out. Slowly, the mutant took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Uh, thanks…?"

"No sweat." Ratchet shook his head. "What's your name, kid?"

"Jamie. What's yours?"

"Ratchet. Say, splitting into five is a pretty cool power."

"Actually… it's into anything." Jamie said with a soft smile. "I can go into a hundred Jamies if I want to." He shrugged sheepishly.

"Wow, that's cool. You're like a one-kid army." Ratchet ruffled his hair. "Just don't listen to any of these idiots. After all – you outnumber them."

Then he left with the kid smiling. Then Jamie ran back to his team-mates.

_Wait, did that really just happen? _Ratchet wondered. _I mean, first Star – the ice queen – is smiling and joking, and then me – the tough kid who got kicked out of his home and lived on the street in a gang – is ruffling that kid's hair and telling him not to worry about it? Okay, me getting into a fight is pretty normal, but… whoa. This place is weird._

* * *

><p>Ratchet kept walking. Eventually he reached an old oak tree. There were slashes around it, and a huge line as if someone had dragged something heavy across, sticking shards of rock into the air.<p>

"Woah! Looks like an earthquake struck here." Ratchet commented aloud to himself. "And then lightning was attacking a fairy." He added, looking at the light footprints and scorch-marks.

The smell of chlorine reached his nose – all senses weren't just his eyes and his ears, naturally. He could smell chlorine and hear a lapping noise somewhere. He was near a pool.

"Help!"

The voice was male, throaty, and for some reason reminded Ratchet of a talking toad.

"Come on yo! Anyone out there? Let us out!"

Ratchet hesitated. Someone was definitely in trouble.

Then he began to run.

* * *

><p>"Reckon anyone can hear us out there, yo?" Toad wondered. Pietro was holding his sister's head, and gently touching the bruise.<p>

Star watched him in surprise. He really did have a gentle side. It just wasn't easy to reach, and may only be brought out by his sister or something, but he did have a kind part beneath the egotistical part.

"I dunno." Fred thought.

"Hey, this is your fault." Star groaned. "I mean, if you hadn't interfered-"

"You'd have run yourself into the ground!" Lance snapped. "Look, just calm down, alright? This might not have been the smartest thing ever, but you crawled back to the brotherhood house half _dead _yesterday, and then you still kept running. Alright? So give it a rest. We saved your lives."

Star and Pietro glowered at him.

"Seriously, do you think anyone can hear us?" Toad asked. He took a deep breath. "Help! Come on, yo! Anyone out there?"

"Obviously not." Star rolled her eyes.

"You can yell as much as you want, Toad," Pietro groaned, placing his sister gently back on the ground. "No-one's going to hear you."

"Well that's a negative attitude." Toad snapped. "Hey! Is anyone there!"

Pietro rolled his eyes. "Hey Star, do you want a race?"

Star pushed herself up. "Nothing else to-"

"NO RACING!" Lance, Toad and Fred yelled together. Pietro rolled his eyes and Star sat back down, scowling.

"Hello?"

They all looked up at the unfamiliar voice trickling from the top. "Hello? Is anyone there? Someone… whoa. Hello?" Someone yelled as they apparently came to crevice.

"Yes!" Toad yelled. "Help us!"

"Okay." The boy up there said. "How many people are down there? Is everyone okay?"

"Uh… there's one, two, three, four five, and six. Most of us are okay but I reckon Wanda's got a concussion, yo."

"Okay." The boy called. "I'll just need to…"

Star suddenly recognised the voice. "Ratchet?"

For a moment there was silence. "Star?"

"Yeah! Get us outta here!"

There was laughter. "Man, cockroach. How'd you get down into a huge crack in the ground like this?"

"I'm a _hummingbird_!" Star shouted. "Now get me out of here."

"What's the magic word?"

Star gritted her teeth. Maybe it would have been easier to pretend she didn't recognise him until they were out. "Please, Ratchet." She muttered under her breath.

"Could he hear you, yo?" Todd asked her.

"He could hear a pin drop in a tsunami." Star snorted. "He's got super senses. Now get us out of here, Ratchet!"

"Alright already. But tell me – how did you get here?"

"It's a long story." Star groaned. "_Please_. It's really stuffy in here." Suddenly her voice was small. "It's really small."

Ratchet didn't say a word for a moment. "Just give me a few minutes to get the rest of the Gang." He said, his voice uncharacteristically kind. "We'll get you all out."

* * *

><p>"Kate!"<p>

Kate looked up from the school garden, helping move things. She had to play down her strength, of course, but she allowed herself to seem very strong for a teenage girl.

"Ratchet! What is it?" She asked as super-sense boy got there.

"Star's trapped."

"What?"

"She's trapped in a huge crack in the ground. It's about ten minutes walk that way." Ratchet pointed. "We've gotta get her out."

"What about her new friend, Pietro?"

"Stuck with her. Him and a bunch of others. Apparently one's even got concussion. We'll have to get the others."

Kate nodded and put her hand to her mouth. "Hoyden!"

A moment later Hoyden slid out from under a tree. "Yeah?"

"Star's trapped in a crevice. We've all gotta get her out."

Hoyden nodded. "Okay. I'll get Fang – you two had better get Maya."

The three nodded and they raced off.

* * *

><p>"Maya!" Ratchet yelled, spotting her flying above the trees. "Maya, down here!" The two of them started waving. "Maya!"<p>

She didn't react. She was too high up.

"Great." Ratchet groaned. "Could you throw a rock at her to get her attention?" He asked Kate.

Kate thought for a moment. "No. When it falls it could hit someone on the head. They would probably die."

"We're over the forest."

"So instead I'll risk the lives of animals?" The vegan snapped.

"Alright, alright. So what do you propose we do? We can't keep up with her and just wait until she comes down again."

"I'll get her."

They spun around to see Fang spread his wings and soar off, Hoyden behind him. After a moment he caught up to her. The landbound mutants saw Fang touch her shoulder. She spun around, and then Fang seemed to say something.

Then both of them soared back down to the ground. "Where is she?" Maya asked.

Ratchet was already running. "Follow me!"

And then they all went back to the crevice.

* * *

><p>"Is everyone alright down there?" Fang called out. They had to slow to a jog, then a power walk, then a walk, but had eventually made it to the crevice.<p>

"No!" A teenage croaky voice called out. "Wanda's hit her head, yo."

"How wide is the crevice down your end?" Maya called out.

There was silence for a second. "About seven feet wide. Pretty long, though." A teenage, bit gruffer voice said **(Lance)**.

"How deep, then?"

"Uh… I'd say a hundred and twenty, hundred and thirty feet."

Ratchet glanced at Fang and Maya. "Could you fly down there?"

Fang frowned. "Maybe. Seven feet…" He looked it over. Human-avian hybrids normally flew horizontally, like superman, but without sticking their arms out in front. They were under seven feet, obviously, but didn't exactly stay perfectly still.

Maya's wingspan was twice the length, and Fang's were longer then hers, so there was no way they could do it the other way.

"Maybe…" Maya mused. "If we could make it bigger… that would make it easier, but there's no way to. Is there?"

"No." The hybrids shook their heads.

"Lance, could you…" Pietro turned to Lance.

"No. Remember that survival camp when I tried to make a hole through the mine? We ended up almost buried alive and we needed the _x-men _to get us out."

"Could you give it a shot?" Star asked. "We're stuck here if you can't."

Lance frowned, and then his eyes rolled up. A weird music seemed to come around and then the crack grew wider. They all had to dodge falling rocks – Fred standing over Wanda – but they survived.

"What was that music?" Star asked.

Lance looked at her oddly. She dropped the subject.

"Or that works too." Ratchet said on the surface.

Maya spread her wings.

* * *

><p>Fred yelped.<p>

"What's the matter?" Todd asked, then his jaw dropped.

An _angel _was flying down to see them.

"Freddy, are you seeing what I think I'm seeing?"

"I think so." Fred said softly.

Lance looked up and his eyes widened, but didn't say anything. Sure, it looked like an angel, but more likely it was a mutant. Be embarrassing if he said he/she was an angel.

She landed on the floor with them, a smile crossing her face.

She didn't _look _like an angel. She had light brown hair with blonde streaks and one pink streak where Rogue had her white one. Instead of a white dress, she was wearing a slightly ripped t-shirt, frayed jeans cut off at the knee and had a frown.

"You're a… an angle." Todd whispered.

"An angle?" Maya stared at him. "An angle is how something is parallel to something. I think you mean angel. And no, I am not an angel. I am a human-avian hybrid." She snorted.

"Hey Maya." Star said, standing up.

"Hi Star. How'd you stuck down here, anyway?"

"Long story that I really don't feel like going into right now." Star rolled her eyes as a second shadow fell down.

This one had long black hair – not really long, but long enough that he needed to brush it out of his eyes, was dressed all in black, and had a serious expression.

"An emo angel?" Fred asked, his eyes wide.

Fang blinked. "What?"

"You're an angel, and your emo."

"Why does everyone assume I'm emo just because I wear black? And I'm not an angel, I'm a human-avian hybrid." He gave Fred a strange look.

"You're not emo?" Star smirked. "So what, you don't cut yourself?"

Fang glanced at her. "I think my life's dangerous enough without needing to cut myself."

Then he saw the unconscious girl.

"What happened to her?" Fang asked, taking Wanda's pulse.

"She hit her head, yo." Todd said, distressed. "She fell in, and her head slammed against the rock."

"Not bleeding, that's good." Fang ran his hand over her head. "She's breathing, and her pulse seems normal. She'll be okay, but I think we'd better get her up first."

Then he gripped her tightly and flew up, careful not to hit her anymore then need be. He carefully put her on the ground. Hoyden ran up and touched her head.

"Concussion. Nothing serious. I'd say she'll wake up soon – an hour at most."

Ratchet looked at him oddly.

"What? I wanted to know how fast people were meant to heal when I first got my powers cause honestly, it was creeping me out. Didn't you try to find out what was going on?" Hoyden said defensively.

Ratchet shrugged. "Guess you have a point, starfish."

Down in the crevice, Maya extended her hand to Star. She took it, monkey grip style. Then Maya pushed into the air, with Star hanging below.

Star yelped in terror but very soon they were on land.

The two human-avian hybrids dove back down into the gap. Fang extended a hand to Lance while Maya offered hers to Pietro. Reluctantly, the two boys grabbed the human-avian hybrids.

"Ow." Lance rubbed his head as he landed. "Was it really necessary for me to hit every rock sticking out in there?"

Fang shrugged and spread his wings again. Then he and Maya flew back down.

"Need a hand?" Maya said to Fred. Fang touched Toad on the shoulder. "Come on." He muttered, and Todd grabbed his hand.

Fang and Toad soared back.

Maya was struggling. Fred had his hand around hers, and she was pulling up, but nothing much was happening. She managed to pull him barely a foot off the ground.

"Seriously, does the word _diet _mean anything to you?" She asked him sarcastically when the slumped back down. "Hey Fang!" She called up. "Might need some help here!"

* * *

><p>Fang was holding onto one huge hand with both of his, Maya took the other. They both strained their wings, almost clipping each other.<p>

Fred managed to get about five feet of the ground before they fell. "Okay, we need a new plan." Fang said.

"Where's the nearest crane?" Maya asked him.

"What's going on down there?" Lance asked, looking down.

Ratchet was standing next to him. "Well, it seems as though the big blob down there is too heavy for Maya and Fang to lift together."

Star laughed. "Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Wanda, you're okay!" Todd hugged her tightly as she opened her eyes. "Baby, you're alive!"

"TOAD!" Wanda shouted.

Toad actually let her go and hopped back, a sheepish smile on his face. Wanda glared at him but let the blue in her hands die down.

Ratchet and Lance were talking together. They seemed to have a lot in common. "So how exactly did you join this group?" Ratchet jerked behind him.

"Well, I destroyed my old school. Mystique – that's who used to be our leader, but she split – came, offered me a fresh start. I accepted, ended up here. You?"

"My mum – she chucked me outta the house. I could hear her anywhere in the house, and she was getting freaked. So was I. Spent a few weeks on the streets when I joined a gang. Then I found about Fang on his blog and I joined his group when he split off from The Flock."

"Kay. So what's your powers, exactly?"

"Super-senses, basically. What are yours?"

"Earthquakes, blah blah blah. I can make the earth crack, make the world shake, that sorta stuff. Not global or anything, but…" Lance shrugged.

There was a shout from below. They all peered in to see Blob lying flat on his back with Fang and Maya panting. "What… have you been… eating?" Maya demanded. "You… need… to lay off… _everything_."

"It's not my fault." Fred snapped.

"Not mine either." Maya replied. "We really need… a new… plan. One that would work better… then just lifting you up."

They could all hear on the surface. "I've got an idea!" Star announced, and then shot off. Before anyone could react, she returned with a long rope.

"Where'd you get that?" Kate asked her. "Do I _want _to know?"

Star shrugged. "I'll give it back. Assuming it doesn't snap."

Kate hesitated. "I still don't know…"

"Kate, it's a _rope_. It's a good quality rope, but it's not like I robbed them of a thousand dollars. I'm no expert on ropes but I'd be surprised if this cost twenty-five, thirty dollars. So don't worry about it." She dropped one end of the rope down into the chasm.

"Tie this around him! We'll pull him up!" Star shouted.

"Okay!" Maya's voice drifted up.

The rope tightened, but amazingly was long enough.

Unfortunately it wasn't long enough for them all to grab hold. "So how exactly are we going to pull him up?" Pietro asked, tapping his foot impatiently. Now he knew his sister was okay the sensitiveness he'd shown before was gone. "One person pulling isn't going to make much of a difference on _the Blob_."

Star smirked at him and passed the rope to Kate. "Depends on whose pulling the rope, doesn't it?"

Todd looked Kate up and down, from her slightly muddy outfit to her movie star looks. "I dunno, yo. Do you really think she can lift him up without being pulled down herself?"

"Kate, unlike Freddy down there," Star cut in before Kate could say anything, "is _not _too heavy for either Maya or Fang to pick her up."

"Okay, pull on the count of three." Ratchet said, his ear towards the chasm. It looked strange that he could hear anything with his earphones, but considering the boy next to him was apparently wearing an upside down fishbowl for a helmet, and the Asian girl next to him was dangling a rope down a huge hole in what looked like a bizarre version of fishing, he wasn't the oddest sight.

"One… Two… Three!"

Kate pulled hard, and they could hear below two grunts. Then Kate's fingers caught properly and she began to tug him up easily.

"Ow! Hey! Watch it!" Fred yelped as he banged constantly into rocks. "That really hurts!"

"Don't… care." Maya gasped, pushing him more out from the wall. Kate might have been doing a lot of the lifting but her position wasn't good enough to hold the entire thing, and both bird-kids were finding him very heavy.

Then Kate gave one gigantic heave and the three of them soared out from the chasm. Fang and Maya automatically let go as Freddy plummeted back to earth. Directly over Ratchet, Hoyden, Kate, Star and Pietro.

Pietro automatically shot out of the shadow. Ratchet's senses tipped him off and he leaped to the side. Star raced as fast as she could and grabbed Kate, pulling her far out of the side.

Then the full force of the Blob slammed into Hoyden.

* * *

><p>"I'm okay." Fred said, sitting up. Then he realised everyone was staring at him. "Don't worry guys, I'm alright."<p>

"_You _might be alright." Lance said incredulously. "However, I doubt that the twelve year old boy you just squashed flat is."

"I didn't squash anyone flat!" Fred protested.

Pietro could see a little hand sticking out from under his butt. It was really quite disturbing. "What a way to go." He muttered.

"Fred. Up. Now!" Star ordered.

"Wha…?"

"You heard me. Stand up!"

Clumsily, the Blob pushed himself up. Then they showed the crushed body of Hoyden below.

Pietro wanted to throw up. He'd never seen anyone die, or a dead body – not unless you counted Mystique's statue as a dead body, despite the fact that she came back to life.

Ratchet ducked down. "Hey, Starfish. You okay?"

"Is he okay? He just got squashed by a two tonne Blob!" Wanda said, looking at Fred with a mixture of disgust, surprise, revulsion and even horror – after all, _this _Wanda didn't have many violent thoughts at all.

Ratchet ignored her. "Come on Starfish. You alright?"

"Starfish?" Lance questioned. Ratchet waved it away.

"Hello? Starfish? Anyone home?"

Fang ducked down on the other side of Hoyden. The brotherhood watched in bemusement as Fang took his pulse. "Yep. Still alive."

"Then let's get him to a hospital!" Wanda protested.

"Yeah." Toad looked at Blob reproachfully. "You know what, big guy? You're going on a diet. Ya literally squashed a guy flat. You are going to lose weight if it kills ya, yo."

"I agree." Star nodded.

Pietro wondered why she didn't seem all that upset. She did look vaguely worried about her team-mate, but not as scared as one would expect.

"Why are you guys all so calm?" Lance asked. "How many of you guys die?"

"None. If we're lucky, that'll stay that way for a _lo-ong _time." Maya shrugged.

"Hello – dead guy there!" Fred pointed. "Man, I really think I should go on a diet."

"No, ya think?" Ratchet asked sarcastically.

"Poor guy." Toad said. "Never met him, but he didn't seem all that bad, yo. If nuthin' else, it was a bad way to go. What's the guy's power, anyway? What's his _name_?"

"His name's Hoyden." Kate replied. She looked the most worried out of all of them, but even she – the girl who'd been worked up about stealing the rope – didn't look too upset. "He has-"

Pietro gasped. "What the…"

Hoyden was almost reinflating. His bones seemed to be pushing back out and he slowly stood up. "Ow." He rubbed his ribs as his cuts and bruises healed. "That hurt."

"You're alive?" Pietro asked him in astonishment.

"Hoyden is part starfish. He can heal really fast." Kate finished.

"Yep!" Hoyden nodded. "I've even cut off a finger and it regrew. An accident." He added, seeing their shocked looks.

"Well, this has been an interesting day," Fang said with a half, quirky smile.

"Yeah." Ratchet shrugged. "So now what we gonna do?"

* * *

><p><strong>So... did you like it?<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about the wait, I'm just not feeling that this is a priority. No-one seems to be reading it. *Cries*. But then again, if ONE person is reading this, I should keep writing.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Six<p>

The Fang Gang and the brotherhood dispersed after a bit, going back to everything they had been doing before. Eventually there was just Pietro and Star.

"So… I'm guessing no more racing for a bit." Pietro sighed.

"Yeah." Star agreed. "Pity. Oh well. What now?"

Pietro shrugged. "I dunno."

"Well, I dunno about you, but I'm _starving_. Anywhere we could get some food?" Star grinned.

"Sure. Pay for it, steal it, or dine-and-dash?"

"Haven't got any money, and d-n-d leaves the workers knowing who we are."

"Plus, we've been chucked out of more than a few places."

"Just because you're a _mutant_?"

"Not really. Well, maybe one or two of them… but put it this way – the brotherhood aren't the most… _disciplined_… people in the world."

"You started a food fight?"

"In a couple of places. Other times, we-"

"Forget it, I don't wanna know. Let's go then, shall we?"

Then they raced off.

* * *

><p>Star and Pietro casually walked down the street, a bag slung over each of their shoulders. Pietro had ducked into a public toilet and came out dressed normally. In much shorter time then one would expect, even for those with super-speed. Not to mention Star didn't have a clue how he had the normal clothes with him – or what happened to the spandex.<p>

The human-hummingbird hybrid decided that the two types of mutants were very different and that some things were better left unsaid.

Star so badly wanted to hit the speed and run off – not a race, just running with Pietro – but she didn't think either the Fang Gang or the Brotherhood would take too kindly to that.

Not after throwing them in a ditch to stop them.

They'd ruled out going to the park after Pietro had seen a bunch of kids. He didn't say what was so bad about these kids, but he refused to go near them.

She wondered if they were these _x-men _he kept complaining about.

Eventually they stopped at the school. No-one was there, and they broke in easily.

"I like it." Star commented as she leaned back on a chair inside the nearest classroom. "It's so much more peaceful when there's no-one here."

"Oh, yeah." Pietro nodded. "I used to break into my old school."

"Huh." Star said. "Why?"

"Oh, kicks. I mean, when life goes as fast as for us, you want to be able to have something new to do. I busted up a few lockers and stuff."

"What?" Pietro didn't catch the anger in her voice.

"Uh-huh. Nicked a coupla bucks too, while I was at it. Fair bit, actually." Pietro didn't notice the growing horror in her eyes.

"Then I pinned it on Daniels. He got arrested, but then the professor at the x-man institute got him out. Long story short, they trapped me and got me to the police. Magneto had to come bail me out."

"Back up." Star didn't ask who Magneto was. "You _destroyed _people's property, _stole _money, and then _framed _some guy just because he was there?"

Pietro finally noticed the problem.

"No. Well, yeah, but… it was a long time ago. I was an idiot back then. And I wasn't robbing everyone, just Daniels. And the people whose lockers I smashed had the perfect excuse for skiving off for a few days."

"And who's Daniels?"

"He's… well, it's complicated. Evan Daniels. He's definitely not my friend but at the time he wasn't quite my enemy. I suppose you'd say he was a rival. Then he joined the x-men, and we really became enemies.

"Okay, Star, here's the thing. I don't really regret it, but really… well, the guy just drove me nuts. I can't explain it. We just had this sorta rivalry going on. Now I think about it, it sorta went away after we moved to Bayville. But haven't you ever had this one kid who just drove you up the wall no matter what?"

Star thought. "Yeah. I can probably come up with a few."

Pietro nodded, realising he had dodged a bullet there without even lying. It was weird. Normally he couldn't care less whether a particular girl approved or not. But Star…

Star was unique. He'd never met any girl like her before. For some reason, he just wanted to stay on her good side.

"So, how'd you get your powers, exactly?" Star asked him. "Did it hurt? Were you just suddenly running really fast one day, or did you go through spasms, or what?"

"I…" Pietro blinked, "well, one day it just sort of happened, you know? There was this heat in my legs and suddenly I was going faster then I'd ever gone before. Course I've beaten that a million times before, but back then… it was just weird. You?"

Star's eyes grew dark. "Me and Kate were out on an excursion to the beach when we got kidnapped by some men in white lab-coats. They held us hostage, tampering with out DNA. It hurt like your wouldn't believe. My body _rejected _the DNA strands at first, but eventually, with all the needles, slowly it just started to accept."

Pietro swallowed. "Woah. That's… harsh. Makes everything I've been through seem pretty easy."

Star shrugged. "That's not the worst of what happened. Hoyden, for example – he has these huge scars from before they managed to get the starfish to stick. Ratchet's mum chucked him out on the street. Fang and Maya… well, they grew up in cages, unlike us. They've always been like this.

"They don't talk about it much. As far as I could figure, they spent the first _decade _of their lives in cages. Eventually… well, actually this is more Fang then Maya. Fang got let out, along with the flock, by this one scientist who was actually humane. Job or something. But ten years in those cages…" she shivered. "Let's just say that not all of the experiments I saw had as nice, useful powers as super-speed. Or all of them survived."

Pietro's stomach felt like lead. He touched her hand gently. "I… I'm so so sorry." He whispered. "That's… that's terrible. If I ever find that sort of place, I promise I'll get everyone out and burn it to the ground."

Star looked at him. Then slowly she leaned forwards and placed her lips on his. Pietro was taken by surprise but still he kissed back.

* * *

><p>A million thoughts raced around Star's head. They had just been staring at each other for a few minutes after they pulled back. Star figured it was way past time to say something.<p>

"Uh…" Then she realised she didn't have a clue what.

"Okay then." Pietro nodded. His pale skin had a red tinge as the light began to go down outside.

_Wow. If this is anything like the stress Max was feeling with that whole Decklan/Fang thing, she must be going nuts._

_I mean, do I like Pietro or don't I? Okay, dumb question. Does he like me? He kissed back… he said he doesn't have a girlfriend… I think he likes me. Oh man, what's going on? Why did I do that?_

_What about the Fang Gang? I mean, they wouldn't be _un_supportive, but we'll have to leave eventually. Once we get something close to a lead on the D.G. _

_Wait, what did that seven year old say? _It's your own choice. You decide how you feel about Decklan, Max. You can't worry about anyone else's feelings. _Or something like that._ _And then something about a boat. She was right, I think. I'm not Max but I'll follow that advice._

_Hold on, Am I reduced to taking relationship advice from that seven year old? I have discovered a whole new level of pathetic._

Pietro's mind was in a turmoil.

_Does she like me? Of course she does, _she_ kissed _me_, but still… wow. We're so different! Well, _we're _alike but the facts are we're in two different groups… we're two different types of mutants!_

_Okay, no more teasing Lance about dating an x-geek. Okay, a little bit of teasing, but now I can totally understand. This is crazy! _

_Actually… could I _get _advice from Lance? He's the best guy I know for dealing with complicated romances. I mean, sure, Bayville's filled with these sorts of romances – there was the two x-geek Scott/Jean thing, and of course Toad/Wanda – but the Lance/Kitty thing is closest to this one. And the only person vaguely possibly for me to get advice from is Lance, cause Toad's not working things out with my sister and I'm not asking an x-nerd no matter how complicated this gets. _

_Wait, I'm wanting relationship advice from the modern mutant version of _Romeo&Juliet_? Wow. I must _really_ be desperate._

"Should we go?" Star asked, finally finding her words.

"Uh… sure. Where too?" Pietro got out.

"Anywhere. Any place that hasn't chucked both of us out yet?"

"Well… maybe. Possibly." Pietro said. Then he shook his head. He was Pietro Maximoff, for crying out loud! The same guy who got five girls to escort him to the same dance – when it was girls choice!

Star was special, sure, but he should be able to keep his head together after a kiss! "So far in Bayville, where have you been chucked out of?"

"Uh… the library, that café we met in and I think that's it."

"Not bad considering you've only been here two days."

Star smiled slightly, still confused but getting over it. "You think that's bad, you should have seen Paris. We blew it up."

"You blew up Paris?"

"Uh, it was an accident. Long story short – doomsday group wanted to blow up the world, the flock's bomb-expert didn't get _everything _disabled." Star shrugged. "Considering he's nine years old, he went really well."

"So why haven't we heard about Paris being destroyed?"

"I don't know. Have you read a newspaper lately?" Pietro shook his head. "Watched the news? Looked it up? Heard gossip?" More headshaking. "Then I guess you just haven't been looking."

"Okay." Pietro nodded, then they lapsed into silence.

It wasn't an uncomfortable silence though, Star realised.

Although once she started thinking about it, the moment got very awkward.

"I should probably go." Star said. "We've gotta go find a place to sleep tonight… and I don't wanna be late…" She was blushing.

"Uh-huh. Same here. I've gotta go home… make sure no-one kills themselves… I'd offer you guys a place to stay, but honestly? You'd be better off sleeping in the park. Not to mention it'd be crowded."

"Thanks, but… we're claustrophobic. Crowds don't work well for us… and we sorta like sleeping out doors… thanks but."

"Yeah, uh, bye."

"Okay."

Then they both left the school, their minds a turmoil.

* * *

><p>"Lance?"<p>

Lance looked up from his guitar to see Pietro standing in the doorway, looking worried about something. "Yeah?"

"Can I… can I ask a favour?"

"You can _ask_… depends on what it is, but." Lance said, cautious.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure… I guess."

Pietro came in and sat on the bed next to Lance. "Look, I kinda need some advice about something."

"Star?"

"How did you…"

"Pietro, I could see the way you were looking at her." Lance put his guitar down under the bed and placed the pick on the bedside table. "So what's the matter?"

"I… I don't know. It's just so complicated."

"Well, yeah. Love does that to you." Lance shrugged. "Gotta say though, it's worth it. I mean, sure sometimes it hurts, but other times… it's the greatest thing ever."

"But Kitty dumped you. You were pretty cut up about the whole thing. How come you let her back…?"

Lance sighed. "Look, Piet, the fact is that when you really like a girl, you're entire personality can change. You become a bit more like them." He looked at Pietro for a moment. "Although short of a sex-change operation, I don't see how you'd get more like Star. But what's the matter now? What happened?"

"Uh… she kissed me." Pietro whispered, blushing.

Lance raised an eyebrow. "So what's the problem? That's generally a good sign that she _does _like you." Lance could see how Pietro was confused.

"Piet, it does seem confusing and weird when you're actually the one in love. But when you're seeing the exact same situation from someone else's eyes… then it's a whole lot simpler."

Pietro didn't look convinced.

"Okay, look at it from this point of view. Since you have eyes in your head, I'm guessing you could see the whole Summers/Grey thing, right? Well, they didn't notice that the other was in love with them, even though half of Bayville knew. This was partly cause their idiots **(FYI – not my opinion! I love Jott! But Lance doesn't, so…)** but also because it's harder when you're the one going through it."

Pietro hesitated, and then nodded. "So…"

"So my advice is take it for the fact that she _does _like you. And try not to change yourself too much in the process."

"Says the guy in love with Kitty, the x-girl."

"There, see? That's more like the Pietro in the brotherhood." Lance grinned at him and then went back to his guitar.

"Thanks." Pietro said, and then left the room with a smile on his face. Then he hesitated and stuck his head back in. "By the way, Lance… have you heard anything about Paris blowing up lately?"

Lance raised his eyebrows. "What? No. Paris blew up?"

Pietro shrugged and left. After a moment, Lance went back to his guitar.

* * *

><p><strong>Come on guys and girls – REVIEW! Okay, if you're reading this then please review. <strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to ****ForestFaery**** and None for reviewing! Thanks heaps!**

**Final chapter, everyone! Bit angsty, but it kinda had to be cause Star had to leave for whatever happens in the next book.**

**Also – I don't own X-Men Evolution, Maximum Ride, or the songs **_**Turn Me Loose**_** and **_**Please Don't leave me.**_

* * *

><p><span>Chapter Seven<span>

"I think I've found a lead on the D.G. So we'll have to move soon." Fang said the next morning, showing the others his laptop. The others all nodded, but Star's stomach turned to lead.

"What?"

"Uh-huh." Fang nodded.

Star swallowed. She didn't want to go. "But…" She trailed off, feeling sick.

Fang's voice became softer. "Star…"

Star shrugged it off. "So when are we going?"

"Tomorrow. But if you really want, we can put it off a bit…"

"No, tomorrow's fine." Star shook her head, her heart sinking.

Fang looked at her doubtfully but nodded.

Only Kate – Star's best friend – could see the tears forming in the back of her eyes.

_What am I going to say to Pietro?_

_Am I going to say anything?_

* * *

><p>"Hi Star." Pietro said, leaning against the oak tree. "Wasn't sure you'd show up." He grinned.<p>

Star didn't say a word. "What's the matter?"

"We're leaving." Star whispered.

"What?"

"The Fang Gang… we're leaving."

"What?" Pietro felt him stomach heave. This was _so_ not going right.

"I… I don't want to." Star whispered. "But this is what I signed up for. There's nowhere else I can go, really. And they took me in. I can't leave them."

"You could join us." Pietro wasn't sure what he was saying. But he knew it was true. "We're always on the lookout for new recruits."

For a moment Star seriously considered it. "No, I… I can't." She shook her head, almost crying. Then she mentally slapped herself.

_Pull yourself together girl! Honestly, don't be such a wimp. You've been through worse than this before – heck, you can still call him and email and even visit from time to time. _

"Oh… okay." Pietro swallowed. "That… stinks."

"Yeah. How am I going to beat you if I'm on the other side of the world or wherever we're going next?" Star forced a laugh. It sounded hollow.

"Keep dreaming, Star." Pietro smirked, but it was taken over with sadness. "Maybe next time you come back, we'll actually have a winner in a race."

"Yeah. Maybe."

"Or I could visit you." Pietro thought. "Where do you normally hang out?"

"Nowhere. That's the problem. We're nomads or something. We don't actually have a fixed home. We just… go wherever." She shrugged self consciously.

"Oh. Okay." Pietro hesitated, and then searched his pockets. He pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen. "Call me." He told her, writing a number down. "Okay? When you get a chance, just…"

Star took the phone number numbly. "Okay. I will." She promised.

"One last race?" Pietro asked her.

"Sure. I'll win this time."

"Not likely!"

* * *

><p>Two hours of running and then they stopped. In much the same manner as the past two days, they collected some lunch and sat in the park. The X-men had gone back to their mansion and there was no-one there but them.<p>

"This place is gonna seem pretty dull when you go." Pietro commented.

"Hey, you're still gonna be around. If anyone can keep them on their toes, it'll be you."

"Uh-huh. Us mutants have a funny way of destroying things. Generally we can't go through a single adventure without blowing up at least one car."

"Really?" Star grinned at him.

"Really. We got attacked by a huge giant robot and destroyed half of New York a few months ago. That's when the mutants first came out."

"_Huge giant robot?_ I don't know whether to be impressed, smug or envious. Why was it attacking you?"

"Oh… it was designed to kill mutants." Pietro shrugged, leaving out the details like him running off to join his father and leaving his friends to fight the sentinel.

For some reason, he didn't think she'd be impressed by that little tid-bit.

"So you blew up New York and I destroyed Paris. And somehow Bayville is still standing."

"By the look of it." Pietro shrugged.

"You know what? I reckon this day should be completed by a bit of destruction. It'll happen anyway, so we might as well do it controlled and not let anyone get hurt."

Pietro laughed. "I like the way you think. Let's go!"

They left the picnic rug behind.

* * *

><p>Kelly groaned. "What a day. Stupid mutants have been racing around the town. How could I lose the election?" He muttered, opening the door.<p>

"What the – no!" Kelly yelped, looking around his new office. It had only just been fixed from the trashing the Brotherhood had given it.

And the damage had apparently been repeated. There was spray paint all over the walls, the files had all been shredded and some foam was covering the entire place.

There was a note pinned to the back of the door.

_To Kelly_

_Sorry for destroying your office. We are truly regretful for any damage._

_Actually, no we're not._

_Serve you right! Ha!_

_S and P_

Kelly moaned deeply. It was obvious who had done it. The mutants. Which mutants, though? S and P… Summers and Pryde, perhaps? Probably not. Or Shadowcat and… Professor X? No, that was way too far-fetched even for Kelly. Anyway, not the X-Men's style. They probably would attack all together.

The brotherhood, definitely. There was that boy Pietro, his name started with a P… but who was the S?

"Not another mutant in town." Kelly groaned aloud.

There was a blast of wind next to him and a female voice hissed something in his ear. Then the door opened, a blur shot out and the door slammed shut again.

Only then did the message register in his mind.

"Obviously, you nitwit."

* * *

><p>"I hate Mondays." Kurt groaned at lunchtime at Bayville High.<p>

"Yeah, cause the rest of us love them." Kitty rolled her eyes.

"Hey guys, cheer up. Things could get worse." Bobby shrugged.

"Okay, Bobby." Rogue groaned. "Enlighten me. Everyone hates us, we have no social life outside each other, it's a Monday morning and it's a beautiful sunny day we're missing. How could things be worse?"

"No!" Bobby said. "Never say that!"

"Never say what?"

"Never say 'how could things be worse'. That always makes things go bad. For that matter, also avoid 'what could go wrong' or anything else that would jinx it."

Rogue stared at him. "You're an idiot, ya know that? Don't be so superstitious."

"I'm serious. Don't say that."

"How could things get worse?" Rogue repeated. "How could things get worse? How could things get worse?"

There was a blue of silver inside the cafeteria and their food splattered over themselves. The plates all seemed to collect in super-speed and dump themselves over at the cheerleader table.

Everone yelled and shouted, all covered in food. "This is gross." Kitty said, looking down at her clothes. "I'm not even sure what this gunk _is_."

"Now do you believe me, Rogue?" Bobby asked the goth, wiping some applesauce from his eyebrow.

"Ya know what, Bobby? Ah think ah might."

* * *

><p>The sun was going down when two teenagers slowed down. "Think we've been running too much?"<p>

"Probably." Star nodded. "Go much more and your insane housemates will end up throwing us into another ditch."

"Hey, look." Pietro pointed out two people out to Star. "Summers and Jean." He said as the teenagers got out of a red sports car. The girl had long red hair, was wearing a yellow top with jeans and the boy was wearing red glasses.

"Which one's which?"

"Scott Summers – he's the one wearing sunglasses twenty-four seven. Jean Grey – she's the girl. Summers has laser vision that doesn't turn off. Grey has telekinesis and telepathy. You wanna go _upset _them?"

Star hesitated, and then saw the way the two looked at each other. They were holding hands. For some reason, destroying their date would have felt… wrong.

"Nah." She shook her head lightly. "I reckon we can do something else. Surely we could come up with something better."

Pietro looked at her oddly. Then he glanced over to where the two X-Geeks had gone into. It was a romantic restaurant. It also wasn't very expensive – he'd been there before.

"What about we go in there but completely ignore the x-geeks?" Pietro asked her.

"Like… a date?"

"Yeah." Pietro could feel a blush creeping up his face. "A lot like a date. I'll even pay for it." He added, taking a credit-card out of his pocket. "They're one of the few places in Bayville that don't care if you're a mutant or not." He added in response to her questioning look.

"You know what? Okay."

Then they walked – yes, _walked _– into the restaurant.

* * *

><p>"Hello." A smiling waitress came up to them. She was about nineteen, maybe twenty. "Would you like to come in?"<p>

Star wanted to point out they already had. Instead she bit her tongue. "Sure."

"Okay. Any particular preference to where you want to sit?" The waitress asked them.

"Yes." Pietro nodded. "Did you see the two teenagers come in earlier, one with red hair and the other with sunglasses?"

"Yes. The X-Men. Why?"

"We'd like to sit as far away from them as possible."

The waitress's smile slipped a little. "You… _dislike _mutants?"

"No." Star shook her head. "He's part of the brotherhood." She jerked her thumb at him. "We're not going to have a fight... probably... but the restaurant might have a better chance of staying standing if we're no-where near."

"Alright then." The waitress nodded. "Follow me then." She walked far away from the two X-Men, onto the other side of the restaurant. It was a nice, secluded booth.

"I'll get you your menus then, shall I?" The waitress asked.

Star and Pietro both nodded and the waitress left.

"Well, this place is nice." Star said, glancing around. "You been here before?"

"A coupla times, yeah." Pietro might not have been the best in matters of true love, but he had gone on many dates before. He also knew that this was not really things to tell a girl _on _a date.

Both of them lapsed into silence. Star started playing with a fork. "So… how did you get that costume you were wearing earlier?"

"I made it." Pietro shrugged modestly. Modest was not something he was accustomed to. "Took about a quarter-second." How come the exact same words could be turned from boasting to modesty by a simple change of tone?

"That long?" Star laughed. Then she shrugged. "Well… actually, I'm crap at sowing myself. Can't thread a needle to save my life. So you wear that costume…"

"Any time we go into a fight, yeah. Or do a job for Magneto. Or any of that sort of stuff."

"Magneto?"

"He's… our leader, sort of. He doesn't have that much to do with us now, but he's trying. He pays the Brotherhood's bills and that." Pietro hesitated.

"And? I can tell there's more to the story."

"He's… my father."

Star blinked. "I guess he's an okay father. I love him and all – saved his life once – but he never really had time for me and Wanda." Pietro really didn't want to go into the whole 'mental institution' thing or 'mutant supremacy' either with Star.

Star didn't press the subject. "My parent's weren't exactly the best ever either." She sighed. Pietro glanced at her as the menu's were brought back.

Pietro and Star both scanned theirs at super-speed.

"I'll have… the steak with chips, and a glass of water." Pietro decided.

Star scanned it all. She was actually very hungry, but Pietro was paying and she wasn't going to stick him with a _huge _bill. "I'll have two hamburgers with chips meals, and one fish-fillets with salad meal."

The waitress nodded and wrote down the order. "Three meals for yourself?"

"I'm a mutant too." Star shrugged.

That was all the answer the waitress needed and she left.

For a few minutes they just sat in silence. Around them happy couples laughed and talked. They were hidden by a potted palm tree.

Star wanted to say something, but there were too many boundaries. The father was obviously a no-go. The x-men hatred was something she didn't want to go through. They'd been through the costume. There was something about the sister that haunted Pietro. And she _so_ didn't want to talk about her own parents.

She knew she was leaving Bayville in a couple of hours. Gently she felt the phone-number in her pocket. She would call.

Finally the food came. "So, how was Paris?" Pietro asked Star as she restrained herself eating the food very slowly.

"It was nice, actually." Star told him all about the view as they ate their food, and about the food-fight they got into with the flock. Pietro laughed.

"So how come you weren't arrested?"

"We were saved via song."

"What?"

Star explained about how Dylan's singing was so amazing the security guards forgot all about the food-fight. Pietro laughed again.

"I'll have to go visit Paris one day."

"Can't recommend you go any time soon." Star grinned. It looked painful. She was remembering all the homeless, all the injured and the broken homes. "Give it a few years. So, how was Mexico?"

Pietro told her about their flight to Mexico and saved the X-Men. Star had to wonder whether it was exactly the way he described it but she didn't care.

They finished their meal and paid the restaurant. Then they left.

* * *

><p>It was getting so late, but they didn't care. Star and Pietro just lay on the grass staring at the sky. "Where'd you end up sleeping last night anyway?" Pietro asked, tracing constellations.<p>

"Still in the park." Star explained. They'd raced for another hour and then spent the time just relaxing in the park. "One day, I'm going to have to come back."

"Yeah." Pietro agreed, touching her hand.

"Hey, you two!"

"Oh, great." Star groaned, sitting up. "Police."

A policewoman and man had walked up to them, scowling. "What are you two doing out so late at night?" The man demanded.

"Astronomy." Star told her.

The woman, meanwhile, had noticed Pietro. "You're one of them muties, aren't you?" She glared at him. He shot right back with an equally dirty look.

"And your point is?"

"What are you doing out here with this girl, then?"

"Holding her for ransom." Pietro said sarcastically. "We're looking at the stars, what's it look like?"

The man looked at Star. "Did this boy take you out here under false pretences? Did he lead you to believe he was human?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I could tell he wasn't normal when I met him."

"How could you tell?" The man asked her kindly. "Was it a scary sensation rolling up your spine – the feeling something unnatural is next to you?"

"No." Star looked at him like was an idiot. "I am getting the feeling that something _stupid_ is in front of me, but nothing unnatural. I knew he was a mutant because he told me so and showed me his powers. Now, could you please leave?"

The policeman and woman both scowled. "I'm sorry, but you two will have to come in with us." The man touched his hat.

"No thank you." Star shook her head with a smirk.

"For what crime, anyway? Being born different?" Pietro demanded. "If that's illegal, you might want to get a bigger prison."

The man took out some handcuffs. After a second the woman followed his lead.

Star looked at Pietro. "You want to take this, or should I?"

"Let's share. I'll take him, you take her."

"Sounds good." The girl nodded, standing up from the ground.

_Ai-yah!_

A rush of wind and the woman found herself handcuffed to the tree. "How did…" She began, astonished.

_Zoom!_

Her partner was next to her. Then both blondes stopped in front of them. "Thanks, but no thanks." Star smirked at them. She grabbed the man's arm and looked at the watch.

She sighed. "I… I have to go." She told Pietro.

Pietro's eyes closed. "Okay."

She gently kissed him on the lips. "I'll call you, I promise." She told him.

Pietro nodded and smiled as she vanished.

With a contemptuous glance at the two police, he vanished as well.

* * *

><p>X<p>

The next day at midnight, a blur shot into the library.

A computer was switched on. The word _Paris _was typed in on Google.

An article about how Paris was destroyed popped up. The backspace button was hit.

_Doomsday Group _showed a bunch of teenagers spouting about saving the world.

_Human-hybrids _came up with a picture of Maya without her pink streak speaking in front of congress.

Finally, the words _Fang's Blog _was typed in.

A button was clicked. And posts showed up.

The older posts spoke about a boy at a school in Virginia, speaking about human-avian hybrids. But that wasn't needed. Instead the button was clicked on more recent posts.

There!

A film of the Fang Gang, shooting cheez-wiz at each other, laughing. The video paused while Star was spraying Hoyden's hair.

The boy copied the picture onto a word document, enlarged and cropped it until there was just a picture of a laughing Star. Then he printed it off.

Pietro held the picture in his hand for a moment before sliding it into his pocket and running home.

* * *

><p>The sun was barely into the sky when she made her move.<p>

The girl hit the speed on her running, outracing everyone. She shot into a libary as fast as she could and hit a few buttons.

_Brotherhood mutant._

A picture of the brotherhood showed up in their costumes. Star clicked again, looking for something.

There!

The boy with his blonde hair spiked up, standing in a school shot. He was laughing at something going on behind the camera.

The caption spoke about the dangers of mutants, but Star ignored it. She enlarged the picture and printed it off.

Sliding it into her pocket, she left the library.

Racing faster, she hit next to Ratchet's hotwired car with the bird-teens over head.

"Where were you?" Kate called out to her.

"Nowhere special." Star shrugged, running in front of the car.

She glanced behind her. The town they had just past through was there, but right in the distance she could see some lights that were Bayville.

Pietro was there somewhere, she knew. Star wondered if he was asleep or lying awake, waiting for her.

She could do it. She could just turn around and head back. Pietro wasn't kidding about her joining the Brotherhood, she knew.

The Fang Gang would miss her, but they wouldn't stop her. And they couldn't anyway. She could go faster into the front and turn around and go a long way back. They'd never find her.

She kept running next to her friends.

Star sighed. She wanted to but she couldn't.

One hand slid into her pocket, and her fingers wrapped tightly around a printed off photo and a phone-number. Softly a song began to play in her head. P!nk's _please don't leave me_.

"I always say how I don't need you but it's always gonna come right back to this. Please. Please, don't leave me."

The ice-queen stopped herself and thought. Then she took her hand out of her pocket again and smiled softly to herself. Then she began the song _turn me loose _instead.

"I was born to run, I was born to dream. The craziest girl you ever seen. Gotta do it my way! Or no way at all!"

* * *

><p><strong>So watcha think?<strong>

**:) :) Review!**


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